The main idea of Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” emphasizes the barriers that flawed English can present, but the beauty and passion that type of English has. She criticizes her mother’s English and the problems it caused her on standardized tests, but in the end, appreciates the richness it has contributed to her writing. 2. Tan’s tone varies through her piece, beginning as critical, then transitioning to sympathy, and finally appreciation. While giving a talk about the book she wrote, Tan realizes that her way of speaking does not match the way she speaks at home, and, “is carefully wrought with grammatical phrases, burdened . . .
In her essay “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan, Asian American writer whose writes Chinese American experience between her mom and her, claims that her mother’s broken English had influence her life. Tan notices the experiences that made her realized that the type of “Englishes” she uses. Tan’s first time aware of her “ Englishes” was when she giving a discussion about her book, and she notices that this is the first time she uses academic language that she learned from the book in front of her mother. Tan’s mother is from shanghai, China, and English is her mother's second language. Tan mentions that she speaks two types of English, which is the academic English that she learned from the book and the second language that she only used with her family.
In my overview of Mother's Tongue by Amy Tan, I attempt to bring more context to the Language Barrier which for Foreign citizens in certain areas of America and other countries is a pretty big problem for non-english speaking people living in a english speaking country. I do think this article is very interesting to show how to overcome adjusting to another country’s culture and transcending the language barrier in the said country. Which is what the author’s goal in trying to define inside the article seeing as Amy Tan and her mother were Chinese in heritage. In reading Mother’s Tongue which is a short story of a non-english speaking family living in America, it shows how language barriers can be very hard to come by in living in foreign territories.
Asian-American writer, Amy Tan, wrote an essay titled “Mother Tongue,” in which she accentuates that every individual speaks and expresses themselves in their own unique manner. Despite the fact that not everyone conveys their thoughts equivalently as others, does not exempt them from being judged and categorized according to their form of speech. In the essay, Tan states and describes the various forms of English that are a part of her daily life. Tan also incorporates her mother and how her form of speaking English affected her in numerous ways, such as making a phone call, or having to depend on her daughter at a doctor’s appointment. Not only did her mother’s style of speaking affect her, but it also affected Tan.
Mother Tongue Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, focuses on how to not criticize her mother's English and the different English languages she uses with other people and her mother. It also shows the readers her passion, rhythm and stylistic devices to express herself throughout the essay. She starts the essay with "I am not a scholar of English" and then the next paragraph says "I am a writer. " She used a parallel between the two sentences with the words "I Am" which created a word pattern so we the readers could follow along easily. Knowing that you can emphasize the words "I am" into two different sentences makes the word pattern easier to break down with the paragraphs.
Two contrasting essays, “Mother Tongue” and “Only Daughter” were written by two talented writers, who also shared several similarities when growing up with their parents. Amy Tan, author of “Mother Tongue” gained inspiration for her writing from her mother; referring to the English she spoke as broken, or fractured. Furthermore, Tan goes on about the language barriers between her mom and society during her childhood and how she was never understood by most of the public. Henceforth, the author closes the essay explaining that the reader she would imagine reading her stories was none other than her mother. “And the reader I decided upon was my mother, because these were stories about mothers.
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.
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan was a story about she had a mother that was a Chinese immigrant who was struggling to learn the English language. Tan refers her language as formal English, but when she is around her mother, she realizes that her language is not the same as her mother. "Public and Private Language" by Richard Rodriguez is a story about this young boy named Rodriguez spoke fluent Spanish but was having a hard time learning a new language, English. The teacher went to his house so Rodriguez's family can be involved with helping him learn English. While parents were learning to speak English, Rodriguez became confident because he had learned a new language, English in public while his native Spanish language in private.
According to Census Bureau reports, 63 percent of immigrants who arrived prior to 1980 had high English-speaking ability in 2012, while only 6 percent did not speak English at all. In relation to its publication date, in the essay, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, the author represents immigrants as having “limited” or “broken” English by using her mother, a chinese immigrant, as an example to symbolize the limitations of immigrants in America and the challenges they have to face in order to be accepted. The representation of immigrants having “limited” or “broken” English can be identified within the text as the author uses her mother as an example to represent these said immigrants. In the first two sections of the essay, the author describes a
Amy Tan the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen Gods’ Wife and other titles, gives insight into growing up in a household with a predominately Chinese speaking mother. She discusses her realization that, because of this, she tends to use multiple “Englishes” depending on who she is with. Tan points out that while education is key in forming how one communicates, there is a tendency to modify language, tone and inflection depending on comfort level, environment and those spoken to, these modifications extend to how one expresses themselves when writing. Speech tends to be unconscious and natural based on comfort and familiarity. With those known well there is a type of shorthand created.
Literature creates an illusion of who belongs and who does not belong to America. Readers are able see this concept being displayed in “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. Throughout her essay, her audience repeatedly sees her expressing how she uses different languages, each language she uses is meant for different settings. “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 had never used with her.”
In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Tan speaks about multiple experiences she had in which she felt a disconnect between the English she spoke with her mother, versus the English she speaks with others. She begins with speaking about a talk she was having about her book, The Joy Luck Club, in which her mother was in the room. While giving her speech, she realized she was using a type of English she never uses around her mother, which complex language and phrases the common person, especially someone with “broken” English, might not be able to understand. Then again, while walking down the street with her mother, she noticed another time she was being careful of the type of English she was using. While Tan uses perfectly crafted language at her discussions about her novel, she responds to her mother with phrases like “Not waste money that way.”
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.
In her essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan reflects on her experiences with language, especially the English she uses at home with her mother. Drawing from
