The English Language

This correlates to how open minded humans are, and their perception of the world around them. Someone who was willing to try and understand Tan's mother's English would most likely have had

On the other hand, Amy Tan brings up similar hardships, however, the way she explains them may imply that they are not at all “hardships” in her opinion. She grew up the daughter of Chinese immigrants. To other people, they hear her mother speak English and automatically consider it “broken” or “fractured” English. Tan expresses that she does not consider it broken at all. She begins to explain that when she is speaking to her mother, being the successful writer she

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.

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

First of all, Amy Tan uses ethos to present the idea that social expectations must not negatively influence one's perception. She makes her argument by using rhetorical devices such as, “I wanted to capture what language ability tests could never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts”. She felt that standardized tests could not accurately determine a person’s intelligence. Amy Tan states how people have different ways of thinking and different types of intelligence. Therefore, it really is kind of unfair, for lack of a better term. Tan recalls all the English that she grew up with her mom, and what she was taught affected her life. Throughout the story, she describes her relationship with her mother, who speaks “broken” English, and how her perception of language has changed due to her mother. She also successfully manages to explain that language barriers in the U.S have limited amounts of success for non-English speaking residents. Because her "mother tongue" is the English she uses while she is in her first world, her

In addition, Tan also describes “limited” as “lacked of certain wholeness and soundness" she is actually stressing on the issue of people ignoring non-native speakers’ voices, pretending they are mute and deaf. Tan manipulates such a common, but influential word-limited- to imply her disappointment how people’s perceptions are just as limited as broken English. Tan then converts her feeling to action; she attempts to raise the awareness in society, not to look over somebody just because he or she cannot speak English. In doing so, readers slowly reflect their own behaviors toward immigrants; they should not apply any unfair assumptions on broken English speakers because they are no better than anyone but a judgmental freak.

I came to America with my mother at the age of eight. Neither of us spoke a word of English, but it was not challenging for me to learn English, however, my mother did not come to America at a young age, she was already mature with lots on her mind. Coming to this whole new world, feeling like an alien and having to adapt to so many different things, it was hard for her to learn the language. I thought her a few words and phrases from time to time and sometimes I spoke to her in creole, our native language, when I have to translate something to her or because I desired to speak my native language. After reading American Multilingualism: A National Tragedy I get the impression that Franklin Raff, the author, is making it seem like English is

Tan’s purpose of her text is to let people know that there are different kinds of English and there is no right type of English. For example, she uses the word “simple English” to describe the kind of English she uses to spoke to her mother. “Broken English” for the type of English her mother uses whenever she spoke to her. “Watered down English” to describe her translation of her mother’s Chinese. According to Tan, due to these different kinds of English, there are people who are very narrow-minded who cannot understand that there is no right type of English. These narrow-minded people fail to understand that everybody has different culture and language background. In fact, she uses her experience and her mother’s personal experience

Amy Tan, an author, grew up in a multicultural classroom. She writes of personal experiences as being a child of an immigrant family in America. Tan relates to the differences she had because of her mother speaking "broken" English. Amy Tan does say, "That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, made sense of the world." She shaped the world through her mother's voice, the only thing she knew as a young girl. Tan goes on, "But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which use more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of

Coming to a new place that is out of your comfort zone is an very difficult task that can take a very long time to adjust to and some people never adjust to the change .In the articles “mother tongue” , “leave your name at the border” and “mute in an English only world” the author'ss Amy tan, manuel Munoz and Chang Rae lee discuss the problems and hardships of being a non native English speaker such as getting employment, the language itself,and even accepted by native English speakers. Not just the speaker themselves, but also their families as well. All while trying to find their place in the United States. One of the huge problems that non native English speakers have to deal with is language.

In Amy Tan’s, “Mother Tongue”, Amy has to take all of her mother’s calls because she speaks “…perfect English…”, on the contrary, to her mother speaking “…’broken’ or ‘fractured’ English” (Tan 453). Amy Tan’s mother is the perfect example of an immigrant expected to speak English, and unable to speak it eloquently, or at least to the caliber of being understood. The necessity of the language would cause difficulties in the approach of everyday life as the expectation for impeccably spoken English leads to the judgement of a particular person or group of people, as it is “…believed that [someone’s] English reflected the quality of what [they] had to say” (Tan 453). Amy’s mother was often judged about the incapability to speak English fluently. She could not schedule any needed appointments, or pay taxes, so she had her daughter carry on the tasks, which even made her look down upon her mom. The pent-up frustration on both sides of the parties of not being able to comprehend one another, does nothing more than belittle the acceptance of diverse