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.
For example, "It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with" (397). Tan is so used to hearing her mother talk in a "Broken" (398) English, which she does not seem to notice much of a difference between broken English and clear English. She grew up listening to her mother talk this way and has gotten used to it. This way when Tan and her mother talk it is how their family talks, their own special way they communicate to one another. Rodriguez shares this same family quality like Tan and her mother’s language.
I think that her mother has been labeled or stereotyped. Also I believe that stereotyping is wrong. For instance, when Tan states, “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”. Amy Tan speaks in a “variation of languages like academic, a language she does not use at home, but uses when conversing with others outside her family or in her books”. Tan also uses“different English with her family (mother /husband) that she grew up with”.
However, not having English-speaking parents makes Rodriguez feel like he is sticking out in society (his parents couldn’t help him with English). 3. Answers May Vary. Sample Answer: To Rodriguez, Spanish was a private language, as that is what he spoke at home with his family. English, however was used in public.
Society has also played an important influence on both these Authors as Tanya Barrientos explains in Se Habla Espanol. Because of her families desire to have English to be the only spoken words in the home, she tells of how she grew up around few Latino’s. And that speaking Spanish reflected your social status of being poor, and that you where limited to a meager life of housekeeping and waiting tables. That even ambitions for ones future was frowned upon because of the language that her family denied to speak. This very thought by society is reflected in (3rd paragraph 489). “Your children are always behind, and you have the nerve to bring them
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.
In the essay, “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan emphasizes the idea that we all speak different languages unconsciously and also we are categorized by the way we speck. In the essay Tan observes experiences that made her realized the different types of “Englishes” she uses. The first time she became aware was when giving a talk about her book, “The Joy Club,” she saw her mother in the audience and she realized that she had been using academic language learned from books, a language she had never used with her mother. The second time she noticed one of her “Englishes” was when talking with her mother and husband, she said “not waste money that way” which for her is an intimate language used only by her family. Tan emphasizes that fact that her mother recognizes her opportunities and interaction in life are limited by her English.
I personally feel that as a American born citizen, all immigrants need to learn English. This is an English speaking country and yes Spanish is a great thing to know, it is not up to the American people to be able to communicate with people that weren’t even born here. If I was to move to Mexico and live there, it would be very hard for me to communicate with the citizens of that country. It would be crucial for me to learn the Spanish language because that is what the Mexican community expects. They would not learn English and use it as a primary language when Spanish has been theirs for years.
An In-Deep Understanding of “Mother Tongue” In the essay “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan accomplishes in three things simultaneously: she appeals the audiences emotionally by providing the pictures of the experiences between her mother and her; she shows the struggle of cultural racism that her mother and she go through without pointing out directly; and she puts some odd things into the essay and make it expressive. Amy Tan’s essay is very successful because she writes in her personal and “easy to read” style. Without the special English she uses in her writing, we may not easily understand and accept her ideas. Tan writes about that she has grown up with using different kinds of English: the English she learned in school and she uses in public, and the English she uses in speaking with her mother, which is described as the “broken” English. Moreover it comes to her sense that language is not only a communication tool but also an essential thing in enabling individuals to define their identities.
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.