Amy Tan Final Exam In “My Mother’s English” by writer Amy Tan, we learned that her perception on her mother’s English had evolved over-time. As a writer Amy Tan feels that language is her way or tool of getting a point across, she even uses “All the English she grew up with”, meaning the fractured English her mother taught her. Tan says, “It is the sort of English that is our language of Intimacy, the English that relates to family talk, and the English that I grew up with”. Tan’s main point is that even though her mother speaks what some would call broken English, to her it’s beautiful to other “English speakers” it is abnormal. I think that her mother has been labeled or stereotyped.
Mother’s Tongue vs. Public Language Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan, both writers, talk about their experiences with non-American backgrounds living in America. In both of their essays "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" by Rodriguez, and "Mother Tongue" by Tan, are very similar in that they both emphasize the importance of language and describes how it affected their lives. Both Rodriguez and Tan stress the importance of their family's language. Tan expresses two major issues; how language has impacted both her and her mother's lives and the different English's she uses towards her mother and others. Similarly, Rodriguez explains how language has affected him and his family's lives and the transition from Spanish to English.
Tanya wants to inspire those of her culture that can relate to what she is going through, while also asking for acceptance within the Latino community. Tanya was brought to the United States by her parents who were fluent in both languages. One parent was an artist and the other a psychology professor. Her parents only wanted what was best for her, so they only allowed them to read, write, and speak English. Tanya’s parents did this because they wanted her to fit into this, “red, white and blue world.”(pg 8) They wanted her to be able to speak the English language without a hint of the Spanish accent.
Language After reading several meaningful essays on the topic of language, including “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by: James Baldwin, and its ramifications and the parts that contribute to one’s language or form of English, I have come to the realization that although culture, power, and identity impact a persons language, culture, power, and identity are impacted by the language you speak. Much of Amy Tan’s argument defending her mother’s language, which she describes, with lack of a better word, as “Broken” English, has to do with her culture. Tan is California born, from parents who are immigrants from china. She speaks of how she once tried to distance herself from her Chinese culture when she thought that it gave her a bad reputation. But while writing her first novel she realized that Her culture and her background made her the writer and gave her the language she speaks today.
We never speak English to each other. Since our first language is mandarin, plus my mother is not really an English speaker, we will only speak mandarin to each other. She will go to adult school for ESL class and learn English skills. However, she will always put single terms into one sentence with non-grammatical way. In the article, I like how Tan said, “I was forced to ask for information.” Even though I don’t have to pretend I am my mother, but I get the feeling that who ever speak better English had the responsibilities to help out the situation.
The difference in the two is that although Amy’s mother did have a hard time speaking the language clearer that the average English speaker she was able to have a language with her family that was English but they had a certain bond with it. Richard Rodriguez on the other hand was told he had to speak English even with his parents but his parents were no more an English speaker than he; so, once he began to understand the language better and speak it with his parents, his parents were the ones
Alireza Pourali Ms.Sbrochi END 2D1 November 22, 2010 The Chrysalids Essay There are some people that they have a better relationship with others that they feel more comfortable than their family. David had a good relationship with Uncle Axel, Aunt Harriet and Mrs.Wender. In the novel “The Chrysalids”, David experiences “mother like” relationship. Firstly, Sophie’s mother is one of the people in the story that is mother-like to David and they have a good relationship with one another. First, when Mrs.Wender tells David that he is a good boy, no one has not ever told him that.
Zhu 1 Jay RHET 110-08 Veronica Andrew Due: Sep.24th 2011 Language For What “Not waste money that way.” This statement, which is full of grammar errors, is from Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue. I think most of the people do understand the meaning of this statement. Now, it produced a problem: Why do we have to say something, and always think of grammar? In Tan’s Mother Tongue, she successfully uses evidences to proved “As a language, it’s for communication, not for look or what. So why do we have to follow the grammar rules if we do understand the people actually talk about?” Tan's observations in her essay are very clear and convincing.
Tan comes to the idea that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families plays a large role in shaping the language of a child and opportunities in life. For example, in her experience, she notices that Asian students actually do better in math tests than in language tests. She questions whether or not other Asian students are discouraged from writing or directed in the direction of math and science. Tan changes her major from pre-med to English and then she decides to become a free-lance writer even though her boss told her she could not write. Tan eventually went
I cannot give you much more than personal opinions…I am a writer…I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life…” (Pg.402) Tan frequently used anaphora throughout and many times, “I”, the first person point of view was used. Her sentence fluency varied, with many short and choppy sentences and numerous long and fluent ones. I could relate to “Mother Tongue,” because depending on the situation, the author used different types of “Englishes”. Tan spoke “broken” English with her mother, and a more sophisticated one with other people.