The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson Publisher: William Morrow Copyright: June 1990 ISBN: 0-688-07895-8 Format: Hardcover Pages: 270 It was about time for me to read another non-fiction book. This is an irreverant and often-humorous look at the history and quirks of the English language‚ covering both British and American English and the distinctions between them (and touching briefly on Australian as well). While it does touch on some of the origins and major turning points
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Reflection Essay After reading the article “Mother Tongue”‚ I started interesting in Asian Immigration problem especially Chinese immigrants. The first generations of Chinese and Japanese immigrants were coming to the United States for mining gold‚ farming and railroad in the early of 19th century. They were followed by Korean and Filipino immigrants who came to work in the sugar cane plantations in Hawaii. Then‚ the growing numbers of Asian immigrants raise up much faster due to the economic
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Mother Tongue is a story about a mother-daughter relationship between the writer and her mother and the difficulties that they had to face as immigrants in a foreign country. The story also centers around the difficulties that her mother had with English and how she evolved her own dialect that later became part of their relationship. At the beginning of the story‚ Tan makes it clear that she was not much of an enthusiast of English making her claim that she was no expert on English. “I am not a
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because her mother’s broken English became a resource of her literary creation. Tan started to write by using the familial English which her mother is able to understand even though most people can’t understand this kind of composition. For Tan‚ she was satisfied that her mother could understand it and she will protect the essential of their own language.“Mother Tongue” is a very personal; this essay represents that how the environment and parent’s education affect the writing. Author describes how her
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In the essay Mother Tongue‚ Amy Tan talked about her love and fascination of language‚ and how language can evoke an emotion‚ a visual image‚ and how it’s a tool she uses everyday in writing. She then goes into how she is aware of the different ways she uses the English language‚ she was in a middle of a speech‚ talking very precise about her book to a group of people using her knowledge of correct grammar that she has learned throughout school‚ and books‚ until she spotted her mother‚ and started
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that‚ we carry things along with us that stay‚ experience‚ wisdom and knowledge. In the many pieces that we have read‚ culture reveals how the author was brought up and how it affected them and limitations to that. Starting off with Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue‚ culture has its limiting effect in different aspects. She claims culture plays a key role in the development of one’s language skills‚ particularly one’s family background. She introduces the many Englishes (dialect) she uses: her academic English
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English 101 Mother Tongue Amy Tan makes a valid point about the use of different Englishes that are spoken in different places and to certain people. What one says may sometimes vary based on the person‚ situation‚ or event as well. How one speaks and what they pick up on happens in the home and other people see them differently based on the way they speak. Different languages become difficult to translate as well because there isn’t always a similar word in the translating language. Many people
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After reading the strongly written “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan‚ it shows a great deal of strength from the Asian American culture. Throughout the reading it showed how hard it was and still is for Asian Americans to work through the difficulties of the English language. The essay talked first about the different languages of English that this young lady learned and used through her life. The second part was about the difficulties that she had through school because English wasn’t here strongest subject
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An Argument for Using Native Language in the Classroom In the essay “Mother Tongue‚” Amy Tan describes the limited English skills of her mother‚ a Chinese immigrant‚ noting that “my mother had long realized the limitations of her English” **Tan citation here**. Tan goes on to describe how her mother had to compensate for these limitations throughout her life. This is the experience of many immigrants to the United States‚ who struggle to learn a new language while adapting to life in a new country
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each other differently depending on the situation‚ changing their register and using abbreviations to create sentences for people to understand better. In relation‚ to being unable to perform a standard form of English‚ as displayed in Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue and Robyn Kina’s case‚ both characters are not able to communicate and express their ideas clearly‚ based on their accent and limited communication skills of the English language spoken in their community‚ which excludes Kina and the hospital staff
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