ipl-logo

Identity In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

1360 Words6 Pages

There are many different and unique aspects that form a person’s identity like social class, gender, religious beliefs, and occupation. Two crucial parts of one’s identity are language and race. The race is following your nationality’s cultures and how you represent them. Language is what we use to communicate on a daily basis. These two have a strong relationship because for most cultures language is an integral part. One person that reminds me of both is my great grandmother who has recently passed away. Her house would always smell like rice and beans and at the pace, she would talk to my great grandfather is too fast for me to even follow. I know that she came from Cuba and loved to show her culture, but others may not recognize her as …show more content…

Tan says that the language spoken in one’s household greatly impacts how well and where they will do well, especially Asian-Americans. Tan states “And this makes me think that there are other Asian-American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described as "broken" or "limited." And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me.” The explanation Tan is giving us is that people who do not understand you will influence you to go away, creating a stereotype in the process. Looking at her explain how language and identity are connected made me look back on my …show more content…

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua is about her life as a Chicano living in America. To speak Chicano Spanish was frowned upon by many and she is frustrated by this, especially coming from the southwest where that language is common. She talks about times in her life which made her want to start the revival of her “dead” culture. Having your own dialect be ridiculed and rejected by others made her want to fight and show how rich her culture is. Gloria states “I am my language”. She wants to feel no pressure or fear when talking in her language to the world, to embrace it. Seeing how all of her explanations in her essay show a strong relationship between language and identity. The way we interact with one another is through language. When you hear someone talking you can get a good grasp as to who they are by paying attention to a few things like how fast they speak, the annunciation of certain words, the rise and fall of their pitch, and the tone throughout the conversation. After hearing the person talk you have a strong feeling of who they are because of what you heard, the language you heard. Anytime I am around family our conversations become fluid and rehearsed. Every story that my Abuelo tells has main ideas that I can point out because I understand how he talks. Being able to tell what type of person you are talking to shows the strong

Show More
Related
102 Words | 1 Pages

Gloria Anzaldúa, in the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (1987), claims her experiences as a Chicano taught her that her culture was not looked at highly in comparison to the English language. Anzaldúa argues her view about her Chicano language by giving examples of both cultures Chicano Mexican and American cultures. Anzaldúa’s purpose is to inform her audience on how it is to grow up in a Chicano speaking family. Anzaldúa writes in a frustrating tone throughout the story of her life experiences. Thesis: Anzaldúa use of her personal experiences, and Music, Film and Literature are relevant sufficient and

Read More
556 Words | 3 Pages

Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez and “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” is written by James Baldwin. In their presentations, both authors imply that language is a part of a person’s culture and a key to one’s identity and how people around them were all trying to change in order to make them similar to everyone else. “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez. He was born in San Francisco and raised in Sacramento, California. Rodriguez was a literary scholar and teacher who later became an essayist and journalist.

Read More
181 Words | 1 Pages

Here we learned the she was treated in college, rather forced, this cause here to delve deeper into her Chicano roots. Her ethnicity means so much to her that to conform and forget what it means to be Chicano is not an option for her, and neither is losing her accent. We know this from Anzaldua statement that reads, “Attacks on one’s form of expression with the attempt to sensor are a violation of the First Amendment.” here

Read More
846 Words | 4 Pages

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".

Read More
1395 Words | 6 Pages

Language is used to convey a message as well as connect people to a particular culture or ethnicity he or she identifies with. People who share the same language share a bond and pass their history through language. In chapter one of The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom Joanne Kilgour Dowdy speak about growing up in Trinidad and her mother insisting on her speaking in the colonizer's language rather than her native Trinidadian language. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy felt as if her identity was being pushed to the side when she was forced to speak “Colonized English” when she was at school or around the social elite of her community, and felt ridiculed from her peers for speaking proper as if she was white or of the elite social class. Dowdy major concern was how to have the freedom to go back and forth from home, language to the public language without feeling judged from both sides of her

Read More
303 Words | 2 Pages

In her essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan writes about the impact of her mother's limited English on her own writing and sense of self. She describes how envisioning her mother as a reader of her work encouraged her to write more authentically, because it forced her to consider the perspective of someone who was not a native English speaker. Tan writes that she began to see the value in using "simple, direct" language that would be accessible to her mother, rather than trying to impress readers and critics with flowery or complex prose. Tan appreciates the beauty of her mother's broken English and tries to preserve the unique qualities of her mom's speech like “her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her

Read More
561 Words | 3 Pages

She thinks that the language spoken at home plays a role in shaping the language of a child. Tan notices very stereotypical things that are expected from people who come from immigrant families with limited English. For example, Tan notices that Asian students do noticeably better on math tests than English. She also notices that there aren't many Asian American students who take creative writing classes but, preferably take math and science classes. Tan wonders that if its because teachers steer them away from

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldua argues for the permission to define her own Chicano/ Feminist voice without being hindered by stereotypes and limitations. Gloria argues that, “wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out,” but specifically argues that different accents stir up one big culture. She says “We oppress each other trying to oust Chicano each other, tying to be the “real” Chicanas, to speak like Chicanos.” meaning each Spanish is a variation of two languages, and that there’s different ways she speaks to others in certain situations like having two tongues. Gloria also argues that she shouldn’t be embarrassed by her language and accent by saying “I am my language” meaning her language is what makes her special and unique.

Read More
943 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

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).

Read More
1081 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
143 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
410 Words | 2 Pages

my

Read More
878 Words | 4 Pages

Who are we? What forms one's identity? Language is a important element of culture and culture is known to be crucial definer of one's identity. Language connects people to a certain identity and allows them to communicate their ideas and values to themselves and the world... In other words language is important as it allows people to express their thoughts as well as beliefs.

Read More

More about Identity In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

Related Topics

Open Document