Summary of “Mother Tongue” In the article “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan shows the idea that we speak different languages depend on who is our audience and the environment we grew up. We are classified by the way we speak. Basically, she described the comparison between “Broken English” and Standard English. The author is a writer, who is fascinated by language in daily life. First time she realized that the different “Englishes” she uses is when giving a talk about her book, The Joy Club, she found one of the audience is her mother, who was using different English with her.
I was flooded with language. I was curious about it as well. I looked at the world around me and would just point at things and look at my mom waiting for her to say something about it. Whatever she said it was I believed her and made a connection in my head with the sound made and the object. I believe most of my literacy was all dependent on my Mom’s ability to help me make these connections, especially with reading.
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
Being born in China but living in America, she seems ashamed of her roots and that is why she is embarrassed when her mother speaks broken English (Tan 142-146). But, although she tries hard to be American speaking and writing good English, she realizes that she has deviated from her true self. She finally makes peace with her mother and she starts appreciating her “Mother Tongue”, which consequently affects her writing positively. This shows just how peoples’ native languages are important in their lives. Our “Mother Tongue” is what gives us identity; it defines who we are, and therefore, people should value their native languages.
Another reason is how similar her personal stories are to mine; they remind me of my very own memories with my parents, who are both bright and intelligent individuals. I have been my parents' translator for as long as I can remember. Amy Tan states that “like others, I have described it to people as 'broken' or 'fractured'
An example of her love and mastery of the English language is in line 7, "I speak English with passion: it's the tongue of my consciousness." Here she reveals a great level of comfort and respect when she speaks English "with passion". This passion also helps Morales with her creativity since she thinks in the English language; it is by her admission the language of her consciousness. In the next line of the poem she states, English is "a flashing knife blade of crystal, my tool, my craft", telling us how she makes her living.
Since Standard English is usually time consuming to construct and difficult to use, people find it easier to use non-standard English, where the governing rules and grammar are more flexible making it efficient and easy to use. Non-standard English also complements and makes using technology less difficult and more efficient e.g. using numbers in a text “w8 4 me”. Using non-standard English also helps an individual represent and express one self-e.g. Lebanese people using words such as “cuz” for “cousin “ or Afghan origin people using the word “bachem” for brother in English.
Willa Cather was an extremely accomplishing journalist and author of short fiction novels also she was an English teacher, fraught with becoming a novelist (Arnold 2). It was just common sense that her long experience in newspaper work that Cather would start her occupation in journalism, though in the 1880’s it was unusual to have a woman in this field (Forman 3).That did not stop her though she kept on making more and more novels and short stories At a young age Cather wrote more than forty so tries, at least 500 columns and reviews,etc. even after she wrote novel she kept on making short stories (Arnold 3). Now only did Willa achieved myriads of things but she also gained awards as well. Willa Cather first received widely praise as an crucial author when Cather got the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours (Pollard 81).
There are many people who have effected me in a positive way throughout my life; however my eighth grade English teacher Ms.Gentilini had a outstanding positive effect on me. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk once said, “A good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others.” Ms.Gentilini was not any ordinary English teacher. She taught us many writing skills that I still use today. She always kept her students interested, and made them want to learn more. She has a compelling voice I will never forget .I remember Ms.Gentilini being a dedicated ,motivating, patient and intelligent person that challenged me to better myself every day.
Focusing so hard on excelling in English I was having a hard time acknowledging the basic sentence patterens staying devoted I past it. As growing up and still intrigue about learning more english, shockingly there is more that must be learn. Learning the importance of English I gained hobbies, education, and my writting technique. Over the years I have growned and I use English in my everyday life. I enjoy that I was able to learn how to comprehend the words that I was brought upon and use them to my advantage.As I got better understanding English I seem to be amired by books that keep me amazed by the knowledge that I learn from what I have read.