Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis

Mother Tongue is about the authors struggles with her linguistic identity, her mothers "fractured" or "broken" variation of english and the relationship with her mother. At the beginning of the piece we are told about the different types of english she would speak with her mother and with everyone else; we are then told how english wasn't Amy's strongest subject and later on we are told about the difficulties her mother experienced because of the way she spoke english and the prejudice she faced.

I really enjoyed reading both essays, because they had a story to it I was able to paint a picture of what both authors wrote and I was also able to relate because English is not my or my families first language and I understand Amy Tan situation in mothers tongue because I have been in the same situation when I had to pretend to be one of my parents because I some people would take them seriously because of the way they spoke English. And for superman and me again I was able to relate because I was able to understand certain things in school when I first came to Haiti so I would answer a few question but the students that were from America didn’t like that I was answering the question, I feel like they expected to dumb, lost and keep quiet

Not all people whose English as a second language speak it in the same way. This argument made by Amy Tan in her story, “Mother Tongue”. In this essay, she successfully uses all three of Aristotle’s rhetorical styles such as ethos, logos, and pathos. Tan also notably balances each part of the rhetorical triangle and ultimately led to creating a very effective and thought provoking essay.

What is the meaning of language? How big the role of language in your life? Have you ever realize the impact of language in your life? In my opinion, language is not as simple as people seen in general. Usually the way people see language just as a tool for communicating with others. For me, behind the general usage of language, it also has a big role in our life because a language has the power to stand and show each person’s identity. Inside the Gloria Anzaldua’s essay “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” and Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” claim that language is an identity. Because they show that language which they commonly use to communicate since the day they were born, showing who are they really are. Language as identity is very arguing phrases, it can be approach from a different perspective. This thing is exactly what are both of these essays are trying to do by approaching differently and using a different tone. Their life and experience give an impact to the way they interpret that language is an identity, and it also seen in each of their essays.

In the essay "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, Tan discusses the idea that people who speak a “different” English are generally characterized as less intelligent. Amy goes on to tell the story in relation to her life with her mother in America, and how her mother’s “broken” English has influenced her being. Tan was born into a Chinese culture, where she was obligated to acquire two different ways of speaking, one being her academic English and the other being her family English. Tan states in the essay, “But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural” (543). Amy tries to relate her experiences of her mother to describe how we speak differently with our family than we do in public. She was influenced by seeing the different problems

Re-reading Amy Tan's, "Mother Tongue", my conclusion has stayed the same. Amy Tan's goal(s) for me has stayed the same too. The article clearly shows their language differences from Amy's descriptions. Mother Tongue language barrier claims the struggles of being an immigrant having English as a second language. I assume that the author's goal could be to exploit other's prejudices (or some people might say "racism") in the US.

In her article “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan maintains that the inability to speak the “correct” English does not reflect intelligence; however most people believe it does. Tan’s mother experience shows how society treats a non-fluent English speaker. Tan, a daughter of a Chinese immigrant family who fled China’s Cultural Revolution, used to go with her mother to stores and banks; Tan admits. “ I was ashamed of her English” (78); people ignored Tan’s mother because “the way she expressed her thoughts were imperfect” because of her “limited” English (78). As a consequence, Tan “tried to distance herself from her ethnicity” (76). How can a person think of such a thing? Simple answer: because if you don't speak English, you are not intelligent; this

Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” interested me; in being the first time I analyzed my communication forms. I communicate differently when I speak since I’m introverted, however when writing I’m solo and have the time to reflect, furthmore expressing my thoughts. In retrospect growing up, I conclude I was the one who “listened”, whereas my father “talked”. Recently my fiancé complained about how difficult it for her to figure me out, as I didn’t explain in more depth during conversation. I’m cognizant my ways of communicating verbally aren’t my strongest suit, therefore I responded by saying I find communication to be overrated. From the reading, I suppose I talk a bit fractured, leave out pertinent information to others primarily those who aren’t

In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, there are multiple “Englishes” mentioned in Tan’s article. For example, there is a formal, proper “English” that is used in the everyday American society, which is commonly found with businesses, acquaintances, and even literature. Another type of “English”, is the more intimate and informal type, which is commonly used around friends and family. Nevertheless, each English can be interpreted or used differently depending on the person.

In Amy Tan’s story “Mother’s Tongue”, Tan argues that the way people speak the English language is directly taken from how family members have adopted the English language or dialect that they speak. Tan also claims that these “broken or limited” (635) forms of English are taken less seriously and people who speak it are often perceived as less intelligent. Tan encountered many experiences in relation to this theory; her mother would make Tan talk on the phone to customer service, because they would never take her mother seriously and would often be disrespectful because of how she spoke “broken” English. Tan was embarrassed and even ashamed of her mother’s form of English, because she knew her mother’s thoughts were clear, but the way that

Being a bilingual student means you are able to communicate in more than one language, which allows you to be flexible and versatile. Bilingual students however have a difficult time in learning a different language they have been taught their entire life, which causes most of them to have a tough time growing up. In Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” she claims that most bilingual people are considered to have “broken” English. Even if someone has spoken English their entire life, their English is considered “broken” because they do not have an American accent. People often tend to misunderstand when a person with an accent talks in English, even if they have perfect English.

What does success sound like? Is it the elegant argument a student presents in class? Perhaps it’s the crisp and decisive diction of a high class lawyer. It might even be the posh English accent of a wealthy country club frequenter. Each nation has a standard of excellence for its dominant language.

When reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” literacy narrative, I was perplexed by the way that she wrote about her mother’s way of speaking. The author main focus was on her mother and the way she speaks. The author illustrated how the way her mother spoke shaped the way that Amy wrote her novels. Her mother was a Chinese native living in America, so she spoke English but used her own dialect. Her mother spoke English how it would sound being translated from Chinese, what some would refer to as “broken” English.

In life, there are many languages that everyone speaks. In fact, after interpreting the passage, “ Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan, I’ve discovered many different ways language is interpreted as such as localized lingo , my own language Punjbialish, how others interpret their own languages, and how others speak bilingual , trilingual, and multilingual languages in everyday life. After reading the writer's article on her own experiences with languages it has opened my mind to the many different forms of languages everyone uses in this multicultural technological world we live in. First, i have noticed that most people have grown up learning bilingual, trilingual, and multilingual languages in their household.

Language is an overlooked topic that not many people address, seeing that it has affected most of us in oblivious ways. Our languages have created standards, barriers, principles, concepts and misconceptions that have molded us to become societies living under differences that have become naturally accepted. The many ways that language has affected us have come from our own personal backgrounds as well as deriving from socially accepted standards that have been set over time. The different ways language has structured us become evident in regards to religion, culture, ethnicity, consciousness and gender. In this, problems have arised that are mostly ignored and disregarded even with solutions presented.