Similarities Between 'Se Habla Espanol And Mother Tongue'

Akira was 12 when his family moved to the United States. He spoke some english, but there were so many words he didn’t know. He didn't understand half of what people told him, and he couldn't help but feel like he didn’t belong in this strange new world. Akira was a fast learner though, it took him less than two months to be able to hold up a conversation with his friends, and he had no trouble paying attention to his teachers in class. While he does understand the language now, he had an extremely tough time before he learned it. What Akira went through is known as a Language Barrier. There are so many people who aren’t as fortunate as he was when dealing with that barrier, and they must suffer because they can’t break it down. “Se Habla Espanol” by Tanya Barrientos and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan are two articles about people who went through similar situations to this one. Both of these

In both “Se Habla Espanol” and “Mother Tongue” their thoughts on the languages transition. In “Se Habla Espanol” Tanya starts off wanting nothing to do with her heritage and the spanish language. She could almost say she was ashamed and afraid of what accepting that part of her would mean; however, as time passed and the world changed , she eventually wanted to changed with it. In order to feel like she belonged somewhere she choose to learn to speak spanish and accept who she had been all along. (Se Habla Espanol 629- 632) Amy felt somewhat similar to how Tanya did. In “Mother Tongue” Amy describes how when she was a child she was always “ashamed” and “embarrassed” of the way her mother talked. As she matured she was able to realize that there really is nothing wrong with her “mother’s english”. She even goes as far as using her “mother’s language” to write her book; she wanted to capture “her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.”(Mother Tongue