Broken Language In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
In “Mother Tongue”, author Amy Tan makes the claim that more people should learn to embrace what may be a broken language as just another version of the language. Often those who speak with limited English skills are falsely determined to be lazy or unintelligent, and worse, as unimportant. Tan specifically makes her point about Asian-Americans and their families, using her own firsthand experiences to back up her claim which she made quite effectively. I agree with a lot of the points she makes in her article partially because most of the examples she gives I can relate to from my own observations. Mother Tongue doesn’t just have to be for speakers of “broken” English or Asian-Americans, it’s something that many other-Americans can relate …show more content…
Tan herself states, “…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 say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect”. Even though her mother should be called smart or willful for attempting to learn a second language, she didn’t know it well enough to considered accomplished. She was often ridiculed for her short-comings to the point her own child looked at her the …show more content…
IT’s imperfect or even incorrect in some places but mostly, it’s just a simplistic understanding of how English works. It’s still clear enough to understand if more people took the time to and it’s the first language she learned from her mother. She looked back at her own work and saw the overly worded and strict grammar, a way she only talked around certain people but never her mother. She realized that this English isn’t bad either, but neither is her mother tongue. While slightly wrong, it’s how she learned English and gained her love of the language to the point that she knew she wanted to write professionally. It’s the bad name given to “broken” English that pushes more Asian-American students away from pursuing English degrees or writing
Sonja L Lanehart Let The Copula Be Analysis
1426 Words | 6 PagesWhat she previously thought was “bad” English is merely a language variation, each variation with its own history and culture. Lanehart now believes these variations need to be celebrated and that they don't always need to be corrected. The more Lanehart learned, the more she believed that English can vary as long as we can all understand each other. Lanehart decides she doesn’t want to correct people anymore.
Compare And Contrast Hunger Of Memory And Mother Tongue
634 Words | 3 PagesAmy Tan and Richard Rodriquez both grew up in Northern California, to immigrant families. Amy Tan became famous for her book, “The Joy Luck Club” that later became a movie. Richard wrote “The Hunger of Memory.” Before they became famous though, they both struggled to learn English. In “Mother Tongue.”
My English By Julia Alvarez Summary
160 Words | 1 PagesClass ESL 5 In the article, ”My English” by Julia Alvarez, the author wrote about her experience as she learn to speak English. Spanish was her mother tongue and struggled to speak English in the early phases. She thought that English was a form of Spanish, as there are different dialects in Spanish. Her parents spoke English when they didn’t want her and her siblings to know what was going on.
Analysis Of Invierno By Junot Diaz
788 Words | 4 PagesIt is a difficult language to master, he said, first in Spanish and then in English” (Diaz 124). In fact, this
The Power Of Language In Amyy Tan's Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
943 Words | 4 PagesIn her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.
Compare And Contrast Private Language And Mother Tongue
813 Words | 4 PagesThere are two type of families. There is one family that speak only English and the other one that speak their home language and English in their household. Those type of families that speak two or more languages in their household are mostly immigrants that move to the United States. Their child or children will grow up speaking perfect English while their parents will speak poor English. In Amy Tan “Mother Tongue”, she talks about how without proper English it is sometimes difficult to get through daily life.
Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
846 Words | 4 PagesFor numerous amounts of people, with English being their second language, they have been described as having "Broken English". " Broken English" refers to a poorly spoken or ill-written version of the English language. One article called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan discusses the effects of growing up with a Chinese mother who has "Broken English". In fact, Tan deliberates about the limitations and criticism of growing up with her mother. Although Tan speaks articulate English, she still can comprehend with her mother 's "Broken English".
Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue
458 Words | 2 PagesThroughout the article, Tan uses a number of personal examples to show and support her point. These examples span from phone conversations and hospital visits to standardized tests. By using examples that cover a wide variety of topics, Tan is able to demonstrate the large effect that her mother’s style of english had and how it was woven into her whole life and not just a part of it. Particularly in the hospital example, Tan also brings in the stereotyping of people who speak “broken” english as not being very smart. In bringing this issue that is at the very root of our society, she darkens the tone to melancholy.
Amy Tan Mother Tongue Thesis
528 Words | 3 PagesWriter and novelist Amy Tan in her essay “Mother Tongue”, narrates that speaking “broken” or “fractured” English is not a bad thing. Tan’s purpose is to show the readers her interpretation of different Englishes and what affect her mother had on her. Amy Tan builds a case in “Mother Tongue” that just because some people don’t speak English perfectly, doesn’t mean that they are stupid or ignorant. Tan uses metaphors such as “broken” (8) and “fractured” (8), these words are strong metaphors due to the fact that they give the reader an easy understanding of what Tan is trying to say. Tan uses these metaphors as a way of describing how her mother spoke, while trying not to offend her.
Speaking In Tongues Analysis
1764 Words | 8 PagesHaving a second language in your background is so impactful on one’s life, providing them with more skills. This is the 21st century and having this skill helps an individual be
No Comprendo Analysis
438 Words | 2 PagesBut even when they didn’t learn English themselves, their children grew up speaking it. Thousands of first-generation Americans still strive to learn English, but others face reduced educational and career opportunities because they have not mastered this basic skill they need to get ahead. According to the 1990 census, 40 percent of the Hispanics born in the United States do not graduate from high school, and the Department of Education says that a lack of proficiency in English is an important factor in the drop-out rate. People and agencies that favor providing services only in foreign languages want to help people who do not speak English, but they may be doing these people a disservice by condemning them to a linguistic ghetto from which they cannot easily escape.
Mother Tongue Summary
714 Words | 3 PagesAfter reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, my perspective changed about the struggles for people who are not as good at English. All throughout this article Tan uses personal experience from her mom to show the readers the struggle while also using primary sources to back up her claim. All the evidence backs up her initial claim and as the reader your perspective changes after reading about how she personally was effected. The author 's main claim of Mother Tongue is to persuade people so respect people who struggle with English because she has serval personal connections, she has fact based proof, and she is an experienced writer on this topic and in general. All throughout the reading she uses many personal stories and personal experiences on how difficult it was for her mother to go through her everyday life.
Mother Tongue Analysis
1081 Words | 5 PagesThis evidence supports my claim since she explained how Mrs. Tan 's version of English was what taught her to understand the language. Amy also said, "That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world" (Tan, 2006, p. 21). Without Amy learning the descriptive language that her mother used, Amy would be less expressive of herself and not as vocally involved in the
To Speak Is To Blunder Analysis
1635 Words | 7 PagesTo be orphaned from my native language felt, and still feels, like a crucial decision” (Lin 6). Yiyun Lin is caught between letting go her native language and wishes she can speak both because they both identify her. She struggles on choosing one of them and having one of them as a memory or a dream. This not only becomes a struggle for her, but an eye open decision on solving the problem of how she can combine a private language into a public language. “English is my private language.
Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
711 Words | 3 PagesSummary of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan In "Mother Tongue, Amy Tan writes about how her mother 's broken English affects her life. She begins this narrative essay by talking about the day she became aware of the different forms of English that she was using at home and during formal events. Amy says, "The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her" (Tan 1).
More about Broken Language In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
Sonja L Lanehart Let The Copula Be Analysis
1426 Words | 6 PagesCompare And Contrast Hunger Of Memory And Mother Tongue
634 Words | 3 PagesMy English By Julia Alvarez Summary
160 Words | 1 PagesAnalysis Of Invierno By Junot Diaz
788 Words | 4 PagesThe Power Of Language In Amyy Tan's Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
943 Words | 4 PagesCompare And Contrast Private Language And Mother Tongue
813 Words | 4 PagesAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
846 Words | 4 PagesRhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue
458 Words | 2 PagesAmy Tan Mother Tongue Thesis
528 Words | 3 PagesSpeaking In Tongues Analysis
1764 Words | 8 PagesNo Comprendo Analysis
438 Words | 2 PagesMother Tongue Summary
714 Words | 3 PagesMother Tongue Analysis
1081 Words | 5 PagesTo Speak Is To Blunder Analysis
1635 Words | 7 PagesAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
711 Words | 3 Pages