Amy Tan Mother Tongue Summary

In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to

The way that Amy percepts her mother's english is seen as embarrassing and later more beautiful and appreciative .Amy, when she was younger, thought her mother's english was terrible and

Amy Tan’s literacy narrative “Mother Tongue” is about the different dialects of English, she is familiar with. She explains that her intelligence is judged by the way she speaks. Amy Tan, explains memories from her life where she encounters many forms of English. Her mother, a Chinese immigrant spoke “broken English.” She describes her mother as someone who was able to understand English, well the mother claims that she understands everything, but when it came to speaking, she spoke without the correct grammar. Due to her mothers broken English, Amy Tan has adapted to the type of English her mother speaks, their own type of English language. Tan feels as if the English she is speaking with it outside world is more complex than the English she

In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan talks about how language influenced her life while growing up. Through pathos she explains to her audience how her experiences with her mother and the Chinese language she came to realize who she wanted to be and how she wanted to write.

She had to keep all these English’s separate because each was like its own language. If Amy were to mix them, it would become confusing and wouldn’t have made sense to her or her mother as they had grown accustomed to this language and communication. One language was the English she spoke to her mother. Amy had to simplify her English when speaking to her mother; Amy would speak the basic ideas of what she was trying to say to make it easier for her mother to comprehend. For example she said, “Not waste money that way” to her mother one day; she would even say this to her husband because it was routine to her to do so. When she made a speech once, she felt as if the way she was speaking was wrong because her mother was in the audience. A second English language to Amy was how her mother used English with her. Tan describes her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured” language. This type of English affected Tan greatly; she said it limited her possibilities in life and also affected her performances in school when she took achievements tests, IQ tests, and the SAT because it limited her language skills. Another type of language that she grew up with was Amy’s translation of her mother’s Chinese. She described it as “watered down” and yet sometimes she would grow in confidence when she was on the phone with people because of this. However, later her self-esteem would lower because of

Tan’s attitude towards her mother’s English begins with embarrassment and humiliation. Growing up in an immigrant family which speaks imperfect English, Tan witnesses many discriminations that her mother has encountered in department stores or at banks, those experiences help to shape Tan’s opinion to her mother’s English. For example, Tan states that “[she] was ashamed of [her mother’s] English. [She] believed that [her mother’s] English reflected the quality of what [her] mother had to say” (508). In young Amy’s opinion, her mother’s expressions and thoughts are broken and imperfect like the way she speaks, and she believes that linguistic expression is linked to a person’s intelligence. As a result, she was ashamed of her mother in public because of her fractured English.

“ When I was growing up my mother limited english limited my perception of her, I was ashamed of her english I believed that her english reflected the quality of what she had to say” ( Tan 8 ). In the article “ Mother Tongue” Amy Tan convey’s her central message by using pathos, Logos, And ethos to show how her mother was treated, and how it affected her growing up

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.

In Amy Tan’s narrative, “Mothers Tongue”, Tan speaks about the unique dialect that she and her mother share. Only she could understand and conversations with her mother and understand every word she is saying. Tan writes about how she grew up with the variations of English; the perfect English that she spoke to the public, and the broken English she used with her mother. Tan writes that from a young age she was very embarrassed by the limited knowledge of English and how that “… reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (Tan, pg. 635) Tan reflects that with her mother’s limitations, she had to talk on her mother’s behalf just to have others hear what her mother had to say, Amy recalls a time where she was called to basically interpret

Novelist and essayist, Amy Tan, in her essay, “Mother Tongue”, emphasizes the hardships faced by those who speak with limited English. Tan strives to broaden awareness of the damaging stereotypes thrown upon those with limited English, creating a personal and reflective tone that develops her attitude toward her mother.

“We are a country where people of all backgrounds, all nations of origin, all languages, all religions, all races, can make a home. America was built by immigrants” Hillary Clinton stated. What she means in this quote is immigrants had a huge influence on America. America would be extremely different without them, without the diverse population here we would not know or be exposed to the different cultures, languages, and religions that we know today.

Childhood offers many difficult challenges, especially growing up in a family that counts English as a second language. Amy Tan grew up in such a family; including her mother, who spoke substandard English. Tan recalls this in Mother Tongue, where she writes the realization that she possessed multiple types of “Englishes,” she had, professional English full of correct grammar and pronunciation, and her “family talk” informal speech which she shares with her mother and husband. Tan then goes on to explain that people tend to view her mother as less intelligent because of her “broken” English. She recounts many stories in which her mother received inadequate service because she did not speak as clearly as others did. Tan states that she has even received limitations on her learning because of the diluted clarity of her “Mother Tongue.” Tan states that authors possess limitations, but, for a communicator, clarity requires severe attention.

In the article, Amy Tan is that mother tongue is a door to her mother's heart, it helped her change her view about her mother. Amy Tan disliked and felt ashamed of her mother's English:“ I know this for a fact because when I was growing up, my mother 's "limited" English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English..” But as she grew up and got used to this limited English, she began to understand her mother, and her limited English, she viewed it as a symbol of intimacy:“ It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” So it is evident that mother tongue helped her understand her mother. In our life, have many different languages, native language is

Language is a very power thing; it can create change or destroy someone or something. Immigrants will always be made fun of because the way they sound. No matter how advance civilization will get, racial profiling will always exist. In the essay ‘Mother Tongue’, by Amy Tan, she has shared her experience growing up in an immigrant household, where everyone in her house talked a different version of English, and that she learned a different version at school. Growing up, Tan was many time asked to communicate with others over the phone, as if she was the mother, which made her feel shameful. That even though her mother speaks broken English, she still understands her well. These stories and experience help Tan prove that just because one cannot

Tan’s attitude towards her mother’s English begins with embarrassment and humiliation. Growing up in an immigrant family which speaks imperfect English, Tan witnesses many discriminations that her mother has encountered in department stores or at banks, those experiences help to shape Tan’s opinion to her mother’s English. For example, Tan states that “[she] was ashamed of [her mother’s] English. [She] believed that [her mother’s] English reflected the quality of what [her] mother had to say” (508). In young Amy’s opinion, her mother’s expressions and thoughts are broken and imperfect like the way she speaks, and she believes that linguistic expression is linked to a person’s intelligence. As a result, she was ashamed of her mother in public because of her fractured English.