Broken Language In America

Tan goes on to explain what sociological impacts she experienced based on her upbringing. She concludes that her mother should not be judged based on her “watered down” English, and that people should be more accepting to those who cannot express their feelings in English.

“When I was growing up, my mother’s “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

In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan an American writer, shares her experience growing up with the family where no one speaks perfect English, and how it affected her education and her life. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mother, who speaks limited English needs Tan to be her “Translator” to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan states, “I was ashamed of her English” (2). Her mother is like a burden to her, at least in Tan’s early years. But the cultural conflict she becomes the theme of her writing and it is under this situation she wrote many novels and essays including “Mother Tongue.”

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

4. Some specific situations where Tan says her mother’s “limited English” was a handicap is when her mother could not be able to talk directly with people, or would not be taken serious by the people she talked to.

Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan’s mother was treated unfairly because of her “broken English”. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mom, who speaks “limited” English, needs Tan to be her “translator” in order to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan has felt ashamed of her mother “broken” language at first. She then contemplates her background affected her life and her study. However, she changes her thought at the end since she realizes things behind language might be more valuable than language itself sometimes. Through the various different literary devices and rhetorical strategies such as the ethos, pathos, and logos appeals, as well as a

Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants. Her mother understood English extremely well, but

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

During that time her mother had spoken very good English and it was her best English. Then the hospital lost her scan and the mother was very anxious to see the results. “I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well.” (Tan pg.3) what she means by that is that she feels like her English is giving her a opportunity who she’s want to be in her life. Then she talked about how in school she would always get B’s and B pluses on her English but on math she would always get A’s and on her quotes she said that “why do so many Chinese students go into engineering!” and that’s a strong quote cause a lot of Asian are really good at math and she feels like if you are good at something else go for it and don’t stop she wants to be

The mediocre speakers are tasked with translation between their family and the rest of the world. They learn about handling adult responsibilities and protecting their families from the world's criticism before they even finish elementary school. These children learn that there is an unspoken dynamic of us and them, with their families being the underdogs. The world is pushing them to adapt to this new society. Their surroundings preach conformity to this new nation. All the while they try to maintain connection with their past world and rich culture. They endure torment from ignorant peers, are labeled terrible names, and constantly face underestimation from those who view non-native speakers as incompetent. This kind of environment feeds their insecurity and requires repeated effort to disprove the assumptions of others, but where most would give up their efforts, immigrant children persevere. They learn to use their environment to their advantage. For them, the media is now an interesting way to pick up on the language and slang the other kids use. With these newfound words and knowledge the children have more confidence to approach new people and attempt to make

We are surrounded by people who speak fluent English, partial English, and, sometimes, no English at all. There are times when you can't communicate with others because the language he or she speaks is not understandable. People often ignore these people without noticing; if they have something to say, others don't take it as important, they don't take it as seriously, or think it’s worth listening to. People who are able to communicate with more than one language, have the opportunity to be able to connect with other people. If you listen, others may see things the way you would never have. What one has to say, doesn't make it less important if he or she can't speak the same

Immigrant families that speak the same English as Tan’s mother can emotionally relate to having to deal with broken English. When Tan says “I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her,” this supports her claim through repetition as in the whole text explains the mistreat of Tan’s mother. She has seen the discrimination her mother has gone through by speaking a different English. They would go as far as pretending to not hear her mother as if they didn’t speak the

This dialect, Tan says, became their "language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language [she] grew up with" (Tan 589). This type of language creates an identity for Tan, one which she was ashamed of growing up. This feeling of shame later backfired as an adult in her fiction writing. She wrote to prove she had "mastery over the English language" with large words, unheard of to the common ear, and sentences she thought were "wittily crafted." But as Tan matured, she realized she should envision an audience for her stories; this audience was her mother. She began to write stories using "all the Englishes" she grew up with. As she found out, this change of her own conception of language enriched her writing and added to her ethos. After all, her mother’s language, as she heard it, was "vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery." "That was the language that had helped shaper the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world" (Tan 590). Her "mother tongue" is her identity as a writer, and she learned that someone’s English does not reflect the quality of what he/she has to say.

In the United States, it is important for a person to speak English fluently because it is the official language in America and everybody communicates in English. Many people believe that English should be the only language in America and that sometimes people may face prejudice when they speak English with an accent. For some parents, the fear of prejudice makes them decided not to teach their children their native tongue. On the other hand, there are many other reasons why some parents want to teach their children their native tongue. Gabriela Kuntz explains in My Spanish Standoff why she did not allow her children to speak Spanish at home. Kuntz’s explanations are acceptable, but some research studies reveal that most young children can

As Tan was growing up, the speech she used in her family environment affected her results on various tests at school. Many other Asian Americans had this similar problem, and had teachers "who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me(Tan)."(Tan 64) This is because Math has only one correct answer, whereas English was a "matter of opinion and personal experience."(Tan 63) As a result of this, Tan drove herself to disprove others assumptions and became an English major. She wrote in a way to prove her "mastery" over the English language. An example she gives is this line, edited from the final version of her book, "'That was my mental quandary in its nascent state.'"(Tan 65) This is the type of language she uses in her professional life. Her words are "filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases...all the forms of standard English that (she) had learned in school and through books."(Tan 61) Without realizing it at first, Tan widened the gap between her professional community and her private family