In the article, Mother Tongue, the author Amy Tan explicitly demonstrates how she has developed her perspectives about language and the way of thinking under the influence of her mother’s limited English skill. The strategies Tan used to support her argument include vivid anecdote, striking contrast, and emotionally appealing parallelism. This journal is going to analyse how those rhetorical devices were being used during the delivery of Tan’s stories, and present my connections with her. At the beginning, Tan employed several sharp contrasts and vivid anecdotes to help her audience interpret her feeling of her mother tongue.…
In her article, “Mother’s tongue”, Amy Tan narrates the changes of cognition of her mother’s tongue based on her own experiences. She begins her essay by introducing herself as a writer instead of a scholar of English, which ingeniously makes a closer connection with readers. She describes three personal anecdotes from different time periods of her lifetime to create a comprehensive view for the definition of “Mother’s tongue”. The first one happened recently at her speech, which is the immediate cause for her to think more about different Englishes she uses in fornt of public and family. She made a comparison of the way she talks to her husband and to the audience.…
Assignment 3 Comparison Although Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan both had a distinct perception of the importance of their intimate family language, they both had the same similarities of facing the struggles they perceived society required of them which was learning the English language. Both Tan and Rodriguez faced these struggles at different points of their lives and had to manage whether they would let the English language conflict with their family’s language. They are fighting to identify whom they want to be in society and whether they want to maintain their roots and language of their culture or adapt to where they now reside. Aside from their differences the similarities they both shared with each other was significant due to them being in the same position and deciding whether they wanted to…
Amy Tan’s discussion of her cultural identity is heightened through the varying levels of intimacy in her tone to ultimately mirror the fluctuating reverence and admiration that she has for her mother. Though unaddressed, it is implied through the absence of “we” that there is a prevalent cultural divide between Tan and her mother. Tan speaks to daughters of immigrant mothers in, Mother Tongue, as she analyzes the limits of being culturally and linguistically authentic in a society where the “standard English” is the accepted norm. The audience is indicated of a cultural barrier through the juxtaposition between concise, rational sentences that describe the English language in its “perfect” context, and the fluid sentences that appear only when describing Tan’s mother.…
Based on the statistic data in 2013, “ In 2013, approximately 41.3 million immigrants lived in the United States, an all-time high for a nation historically built on immigration.” (From the Migration Policy Institute From this data). From this statistic data, it demonstrates that it’s popular for people choosing immigrant to United States because they have more work chances in U.S and enjoy preferable welfare than in their own countries. However, others will treat them differently because they speak with the broken English. The author Amy tan reflects this phenomenon by writing an article called Mother Tongue.…
4. “How does Tan’s Title –“Mothers Tongue” –affect the way you read the argument?” “What other titles might you have Chosen?” The title “Mothers Tongue” infers the story is about mom’s native language tone.…
Despite the odds against her, Tan became a successful writer and proved everyone else wrong. Tan knew her mother was not as confident in herself as she was, and she knew that others faced the same obstacles her mother did, so she wrote this selection to help apprise the audience of the difficulties immigrants face everyday because they can not speak “normal”…
Meeting parental expectations and completing all of the “requirements” to be a successful son or daughter has always been part of the main goal and developing process for everyone, no matter how old the “child” is. Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan, authors of two unique essays - "Only Daughter" and "Mother Tongue" - with the similar theme, are sharing their experiences and thought processes regarding that question. They have something in common – both women immigrated to the United States with their families and both decided to major in English to become writers. However, these are the only few similarities that authors have. Everything else is different and almost antithetical – mother that had her own “broken” English for Amy Tan and…
In The Mother Tongue, author Bill Bryson asks a variety of questions about English. These questions range from wondering about how we can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed but not whelmed with to why colonel is pronounced with an r when one does not exist in the word. The overall purpose of Bill Bryson’s book is to determine why English is the way it is today. Bill Bryson dives into the history and evolution of English through the appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, the best example starting with the list on page 71. Bill Bryson uses pathos in his tone and ethos to provide information in order to seem credible.…
Mamacita mutters to her child, “No speak English.” Mamacita, like many women in the book, is not from the United States and has moved from a Spanish-speaking country resulting in there to be a language barrier between herself and every English-speaking person. Mamacita’s husband has come accustomed to American ways and yearns for his wife to learn English and become westernized as well, but Mamacita’s language is part of her culture, which she refuses to give up. Mamacita’s unwillingness to give up her culture is due to her culture being apart of her identity, which she cherishes and values. Mamacita also values her husband and his opinions resulting in Mamacita to feel conflicted.…
Literature hold various components of structure and style. After reading the essay, “Just Think: The Changes of a Disengaged Mind,” by Timothy Wilson, it can presume that this essay is written in a plain style. In the word plain style, the word plain symbolize simplicity. Accordingly, the style that this essay holds is the simple concept of constructing sentences into plain English, by using simplest words. It is true that the author has used the plain style to pursue to convey the audiences, but why did the author intend to present his work in a plain style, he could have constructed his essay in any structure or style.…
The writers’ method of writing is clear and well thought out, but there is also the matter of what is actually being communicated, as appose to how she gets her thoughts across. While Tan explains the difficulties that her mother has with communicating clearly, she makes it clear that she has an unwavering respect for her mother, regardless of her misgivings and barriers. Although there aren’t many references to this fact directly in the text, it’s a kind of undertone that sets in with the reader, possibly without even being noticed. The writer does an exceptional job conveying this idea subtly, and without depositing it into the text. This is an example of how Tan has honed into her writing skills, while also using her natural abilities and personal identity to communicate…
What essay technique is used to start this essay? What does this accomplish at the start of the essay? This essay starts out with a story (narrative). It accomplishes a strong start to draw the reader in.…
In the story “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan tries to distinguish the difference between two different cultures as a child. She is raised by her mother who speaks “broken” English, and the outside world where perfect English is spoken. Amy had a hard time as a child because of the different Englishes that were spoken. Tan as an adult continues to find the difference between the languages that are spoken, even though she knows that the one spoken by her mother will never improve. Tan’s attitude towards mother tongue starts as being embarrassed and ashamed, because Mother Tongue was the only type of English that her mother could speak.…
a) In the late 1960s, Singapore government introduced a bilingual education policy. Mother Tongue languages such as Mandarin, Malay and Tamil are known to be the students’ second language in Singapore. It is mandatory for each student to take up at least one second language. However according to an online news "Much Ado About Mother Tongue", students have not been coping well with their Mother Tongue language over the past years. Instead, the students are excelling in other subjects such as Mathematics and Science.…