Language shifts
In the personal narrative essay "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan she talks about how there is a variation of the English language all over the world. Tan explains about how her English is different from her mothers. Her mother’s English is described as "broken" or "fractured"(651). It was described as this because she does not understand all of the words and sometimes she misses words. Her mother has had to learn English as a second language; it was not her first language. Everyone that speaks English may change the way they speak depending on who is around. In a sophisticated environment they may talk with more poise and use larger words, but with their friends they may be more lenient and not worry about having to impress them.
The way you speak affects the way people look at you, if you do not speak well then people may think you are unintelligent or not worth their time. Tan had to translate or speak for her mother multiple times. “When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone and pretend I was her” (651). She had to talk to many people for her mother so that the correct information could get across. While I was growing up I lived with my grandmother most of the time. She had lived in many different states over the years, such as, Nevada, Texas, California, Rhode Island, Indiana and many more. She had developed many different speaking habits because of the moves I picked up on many of those habits as a child. When I am in class or