Mother Tongue : Critical Analysis

The story “Mother Tongue” was about a girl name Amy facing daily life issues due to her mother not knowing English. She goes on in the story saying that due to her mother not knowing English well she was forced to do tasks that involved her pretending to be her mom to ensure her mother was getting the help she deserved. Not only did Amy face a lot of issues with her mom she was also getting affected by her mother's English in school. Amy thought that her mom was the whole reason why she couldn’t do better in her exams. She was noticing that math was easier to do because there was only one right answer while English had multiple answers. She was also realizing that Asian students as a whole were better at math than English which made Amy believe that she wasn’t the only one that taught her English was broken or limited. Amy saw these obstacles and told herself that just because people see her that way it doesn’t mean she has to be like that.

Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Dennis Baron’s “Who Owns Global English” both highlight important points in regards to language. While Amy Tan discusses her own mother’s native tongue in a more reflective manner, Dennis Baron compares the use of English on a global standard. Though both have similar messages, the two pieces also differ in their overall themes/arguments.

Robert MacNeil, a writer of many great historical articles, was once, a journalist and news anchor. In his article, “English Belongs to Everybody”, MacNeil responds to the fear of many Americans who believe that Spanish will soon sweep over English. He argues that English can not be diluted by any other language as “it has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb changes,”

There are both positive and negative aspects of learning a language, but people are likely to equalize two sides and try not to lose the relationships with their family and the society. Amy Tan, in “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez in “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” explain how they viewed their private and public languages through their experiences and how they managed these two languages and established themselves in the society. Tan initially felt ashamed of her private language and favored the public language; however, in the end she showed that she could manage the balance between the languages and finally utilized both in public. On the other hand, Rodriguez preferred his private language which made him feel comfortable;

3. In paragraphs 10 through 13, Tan juxtaposes her mother’s English with her own. The point these quoted passages make is to show how different was her mother’s English from her English.

In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, she begins her writing by doubting herself as a writer. My initial thought about this opening statement was confusion; why would she start a paper doubting her ability and possibly turning readers away? However, I read the opening sentences again and found myself wanting to read through her paper. I found her first sentences provided a unique and interesting way to describe herself and I wanted to know why she would describe herself in such a way in the very beginning of her piece. I think she chose to say this because she feels that no one can be an expert in the language of English. There are just too many versions of the English language itself and then add on all the variations that American people have added

Blaise Pascal once said: “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much”. The same could be said for harmful words. One word could change someone's entire day, whether that be kind or harmful is all up to the speaker. Words can hurt and they can repair, but they can never be forgotten. Words are powerful and can be used numerous different ways. Words can dictate how we are perceived, they can be used to persuade, they can be used to evoke emotion, logical sense and credibility as well as how a person’s daily life plays out.

In Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses how the way her bilingual mother speaks negatively affects how people perceive her intellect. Despite the fact that Tan’s mother is actually very intelligent and understands more than many people expect her to, she often is ignored and belittled because of how she speaks. Tan feels that those who ignore and belittle her mom are oblivious to the beauty, complexity, and richness of her mother’s speech. In Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan shows that the belief that standard English is inherently better than other forms of English is flawed by questioning the prominence of proper English and sharing how rich and beautiful her mother’s English can be.

The video Mother Tongues: Languages Around the World discusses the various languages found in Africa, Oceana, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The film starts with a brief description of Africa’s nearly 2000 languages. It explains that because of Africa’s relative isolation and long history of occupants it has the most languages of any land mass. The African languages include anything from Arabic, Swahili, or the ‘click’ language. Click languages are located only in Africa; in these languages the clicks function as normal consonants.The many languages of Africa all evolved differently due to separation between groups. For example the Nigeria area has over 400 languages and almost every language group is represented. Africa has unique sounds

I really enjoyed the story "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. In most parts of her story, Tan gave little hints on how she overcame what was expected of her. When she made a phone call to her mother, her mother's life experiences were limited due to the language barrier. It is apparent that Tan's mother played a key role in her life. Tan's "broken" English developed into appreciation with age. Tan also mentions how her mom is the most expressive woman that she knows, which is why I find her to be one of the most important reasons Tan was so shaped by her mother's English

There can be several different reasons why an English Language Learner can have troubles comprehending the English language. Poverty can play a huge role when in explaining why many English language learners have the troubles in mastering the English language. The State testing has varied throughout the years, along with the degrees of assessments and progress. Teachers also need constructive feedback to properly assess their own progress. The increase prescription of ADHD medication can also be a factor. Programs like SLADI in effect that pulls ELL’s from mainstream classrooms to focus on advanced grammatical structures of the English language; all in which, have been unsuccessful in aiding the student to acquire mastery within the English language domains of reading and writing. Comparing a personal experience I had dealt with wasted school year time, regarding an ELL student, involves a teacher being out of touch with her student and giving inappropriate leveled work. All of these issues work hand in hand. The ultimate goal is to teach literacy and to reach proficiency within the English language.

In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, an American Chinese writer describes the different types of English she uses throughout her life. The different types of English are tied to her social identity which is evident in An Introduction: At the Root of Identity, from Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude Steele a social psychologist writes about the variety of stereotypes places on people and how that ties with identity. Both writers highlight their perception on stereotypes they have in their research and life.Tan and her mother deal with stereotype threat based on their language. These conditions on their identity make Tan realize she has to be accepting of her broken language because it is a reminder of her culture and it keeps the bond between Tan and her mother alive; challenging the ideas on stereotype. This ultimately suggests that Tan no longer internalize the negative beliefs of individuals but rather is proud embracing who she is.

When a person utters the word “intelligence,” people tend to think of a genius like Albert Einstein developing some obscure equation that the great majority of the population will never understand. The problem with the definition of intelligence is that people relate intelligence to words like “genius” which require intelligence but do not have the same definition as intelligence. Often, people try to use related words to define intelligence, but these words are unable to define intelligence since many are only different levels of intelligence. While many definitions try to encompass the meaning of intelligence and various definitions describe a small part of intelligence, no definition completely explains intelligence, because

There are many bilingual and multicultural people in the world today. For many, the choices of which language they use, and how they use it, correspond to what social or cultural community they belong to. Amy Tan, a Chinese American novelist, portrays this well in her short essay "Mother Tongue." Tan grew up in two vastly different worlds, using different "Englishes." The first world, which consists of her close family, she speaks what we may call "broken" or "limited" English. The second world, which is her business and professional world, Tan speaks and writes perfect standard and academic English. Having to "shuttle" between these two communities with very different languages has had many different positive and negative effects on

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,