Amy Tan Mother Tongue Summary
Tan was raised in the English society and was already assimilated into society as she grew up. The language Tan was familiar with like Rodriguez was familiar to Spanish was her mother’s language, which she refers to as her “mother tongue” (Tan, 313). Tan writes about her experiences of her mother’s language as a child, and says, “…when I was growing up, my mother’s ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English” (314).
Alvarez unfolds how Trujillo impacted her mother in a chronological order in a revealing way. Alvarez explains at first that her mother adores Trujillo. It was the way of life for the Dominican Republic people. She was raised to be this way in a life of her eyes revolving around this dictator who showed to be really good, but was not good at all. An example of a false representation of the dictator is Stalin or Hitler.
The power of language We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it.
Mother Tongue was originally part of a speech that Amy Tan had given while she participated in a panel entitled,”Englishes: Whose English is it anyway?” in 1989. The author describes in detail how she finds herself using various forms of English, depending on who she is around. She also makes the point on how hard life can be for someone who doesn’t speak good English.
Tan couldn’t speak English fluently. She was made fun of so, Tan wanted to learn English due to the stereotype said about Asians. She became an English major and eventually became a writer to prove that despite how she spoke, she could still master the English language. Tan believes that language spoken in immigrant families plays a huge role in creating a language for children and it will affect their lives in the future. Just like Rodriquez, Tan describes the language she spoke at home, which was “broken English” as a language of intimacy.
Rhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.
In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, she grew up knowing both English and Mandarin in her household. Tan adopted English and felt effortless translating for her mother. This motivated her to learn English at her best potential at school. What inspired her to learn English were the challenge and the
For numerous amounts of people, with English being their second language, they have been described as having "Broken English". " Broken English" refers to a poorly spoken or ill-written version of the English language. One article called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan discusses the effects of growing up with a Chinese mother who has "Broken English". In fact, Tan deliberates about the limitations and criticism of growing up with her mother. Although Tan speaks articulate English, she still can comprehend with her mother 's "Broken English".
In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.
Summary of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan In "Mother Tongue, Amy Tan writes about how her mother 's broken English affects her life. She begins this narrative essay by talking about the day she became aware of the different forms of English that she was using at home and during formal events. Amy says, "The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her" (Tan 1).
Tan talks about the different types of English she used and learned while she was growing up. Tan’s English wasn’t all so great when she was in grade school but in college she switched to an English major from pre-med. English was Tan’s second language so she wasn’t so encouraged to become a writer. Others could not understand her mother’s “broken English”, but Tan could because she grew up listening to it, which is why she named this story “Mother tongue”.
To be orphaned from my native language felt, and still feels, like a crucial decision” (Lin 6). Yiyun Lin is caught between letting go her native language and wishes she can speak both because they both identify her. She struggles on choosing one of them and having one of them as a memory or a dream. This not only becomes a struggle for her, but an eye open decision on solving the problem of how she can combine a private language into a public language. “English is my private language.
1.) Empathy: Empathy is defined as an emotional reaction that is similar to the reaction being experienced by another person (134). In other words, it is when you “put yourself in another person’s shoes”, and see things from their point of view by having the same emotional reaction as them. For example, when my friend told me her dog had passed away, I felt sad because that is how she felt. In the movie we watched in class, Emotional Intelligence, it was discussed that empathy is the most important EI skills.
The article 'Mother Tongue ' by author Amy Tan is about the variations in the English language the author uses in her life. She describes her English when giving a speech to a other people, English she uses when speaking to her mother, and English she uses in her writing. She tells of difficulties faced by both her mother and herself from these many differences. Amy 's goal in this article is to show that a person does not have to speak proper English to be seen as smart or intelligent.
After reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, my perspective changed about the struggles for people who are not as good at English. All throughout this article Tan uses personal experience from her mom to show the readers the struggle while also using primary sources to back up her claim. All the evidence backs up her initial claim and as the reader your perspective changes after reading about how she personally was effected. The author 's main claim of Mother Tongue is to persuade people so respect people who struggle with English because she has serval personal connections, she has fact based proof, and she is an experienced writer on this topic and in general. All throughout the reading she uses many personal stories and personal experiences on how difficult it was for her mother to go through her everyday life.
More about Amy Tan Mother Tongue Summary
Comparing Aira By Richard Rodriguez And Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
1513 Words | 7 PagesTrujillo's Effect On Her Mother
334 Words | 2 PagesSimilarities Between Mother Tongue And How To Tame A Wild Tongue
504 Words | 3 PagesA Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
614 Words | 3 PagesAnalysis Of Ari Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood By Richard Rodriguez
804 Words | 4 PagesRhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue
458 Words | 2 PagesSummary Of Aria By Richard Rodriguez
819 Words | 4 PagesAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
846 Words | 4 PagesThe Power Of Language In Amyy Tan's Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
943 Words | 4 PagesAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
711 Words | 3 PagesAmy Tan Research Paper
737 Words | 3 PagesTo Speak Is To Blunder Analysis
1635 Words | 7 PagesEmotional Intelligence: Video Analysis
612 Words | 3 PagesMother Tongue Analysis
1081 Words | 5 PagesMother Tongue Summary
714 Words | 3 Pages