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Summary Of Hmongspeak By May Lee

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Hmongspeak by May Lee
Hmongspeak is a way of describing the cultural aspects of the Hmong language. If a person uses it, that person gets labeled as a Hmong society member, and there’s some people who want to put a stop to these cultural aspects of the Hmong language. Because these people are affected by this language in an unpleasant way. One such author, May Lee wrote, “Hmongspeak” to educate the Hmong society. Lee defines it and says: “Hmongspeak is universal”. It’s a way of implying something as opposed to saying things directly” (Lee, 47). Means that people attempt to talk to you in a very indirect way so they don’t hurt your feelings but in reality they are. Lee’s purpose of writing is to hopefully stop people in talking in indirectly …show more content…

Convincing people that Hmongspeak is used by all type of genders, races and nationalities. Adding these personal experiences, it shows that Lee was a victim of Hmongspeak and she sounds like she knows what she’s talking about. These self-experienced or personal stories helps the reader to relate cause there might be a reader who’s going through it at the moment or someone who has been in Lee’s same shoes. In another way, personal stories helps the reader to imagine the author’s atmosphere. Lee starts using ethos by giving an example about herself and describes an incident that happened to her specifically: “If you ever been a daughter-in-law and heard your in-laws saying, Mai [Lee’s sister in-law], clean up the house” or Mai [same sister], do the dishes, you know they’re not really talking to Mai. They’re talking to you. It’s their way of discreetly saying you need to work” says Lee. And then she starts defining what does Hmongspeak really means: “Hmongspeak is universal. It’s a way of implying something as opposed to saying things directly”. After that Lee starts sharing some personal experiences. And shares her thoughts on Hmongspeak by saying; “It’s hilarious, really I don’t know …show more content…

Or she could’ve shared some statistics the shows the number of people who uses Hmongspeak in their lives. Sharing or adding statistics always helps things to get more serious. If Lee could’ve added statistics or other people’s stories, the readers will be like “So, it’s not just me who’s going through this”, or in a different way it will make Lee’s piece more and more relatable. Which will eventually spread more awareness and help to reduce the use of Hmong

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