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Amy tans mother tongue essay
"mother tongue" by amy tan 2006 essay
"mother tongue" by amy tan 2006 essay
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Amy tans mother tongue essay
"mother tongue" by amy tan 2006 essay
"mother tongue" by amy tan 2006 essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Tan establishes ethos with this juxtaposition by giving an argument on what her definition of English is, despite what society usually defines it as. Q2. The anecdotes further her
Language is first learned as an infant by absorbing and mimicking one's environment, surroundings, and daily life. For some, like myself, more than one language is spoken, and learning how to balance multiple languages can be a challenge. Trying to integrate language with culture and environment at times can be interesting and other times demanding and tiresome. Maxine Hong Kingston describes her struggles in coping with the differences in her languages, coming to terms with herself, and accepting how her culture uses language in her essay, “The Language of Silence”. Although similar struggles are had by Christine Marin, she writes in her essay “Spanish Lessons”, about how she discovered her culture through language, how it empowered her, and how she learned to love that part of herself.
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.
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.
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".
After reading Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue”, it is evident that language plays a huge part in our lives. For Tan, it is her mother’s English. Her mother grew up in China, so she wasn't a native English speaker. While a large portion of people couldn’t understand Tan’s mother, she could understand her just fine. This is largely because she grew up with her mother and she taught Tan how to speak English.
She declared that she isn’t a scholar in English or literature, since she mostly succeeds in Mathematics and Sciences. Tan’s mother is Chinese who struggles speaking perfect English. So, her mother speaks what Tan calls “Broken English” which is grammatically incorrect English made of all kinds of small phrases and words that don’t quite fit together. Amy Tan says that her family language is an important element which played a role in shaping her identity. Language and identity are both linked in Tan’s life because since childhood, Amy Tan has been exposed to different kinds of Englishes from her mother, herself, and later her husband.
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.
Although the author’s mother’s English is considered “limited” and is symbolic in the sense of highlighting the challenges immigrants have to face, Tan’s mother’s English can be symbolic in other tenses as
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”.
Writer and novelist Amy Tan in her essay “Mother Tongue”, narrates that speaking “broken” or “fractured” English is not a bad thing. Tan’s purpose is to show the readers her interpretation of different Englishes and what affect her mother had on her. Amy Tan builds a case in “Mother Tongue” that just because some people don’t speak English perfectly, doesn’t mean that they are stupid or ignorant. Tan uses metaphors such as “broken” (8) and “fractured” (8), these words are strong metaphors due to the fact that they give the reader an easy understanding of what Tan is trying to say. Tan uses these metaphors as a way of describing how her mother spoke, while trying not to offend her.
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.
Operant learning theory is about the ways environmental contingencies influence the likely hood of a behavior. It has four different kinds of influences. First is positive rewards; defined as adding something desirable to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Second is negative rewards; defined as to subtract something undesirable to increase the likely hood of a behavior. Third is positive punishment; defined as to add something undesirable to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.
In Amy Tan‘s essay “Mother Tongue” (1999), she describes her life with her mother in America and how the broken speech of her mother has had an influence on her life. Amy Tan talks about the different “Englishes" she speaks to communicate with different people. Also, she tells us about her love for English and how she becomes a famous writer in America. In her essay she tries to shows us that language, culture, and education shapes us into who we are and the more you study English the more you learn and English will change your life a lot.