Everyone speaks a language, but some people speak more than one language. To learn and understand a new language can be troublesome when first starting to learn said language. Both Amy Tan and Barbara Mellix experience these struggles. Tan’s multicultural Chinese- American life explains why Tan worries about the misunderstanding and stereotypes about the Chinese language. Tan explains in her essay, “The Language of Discretion”, how these misunderstandings and stereotypes affect her life. On the other hand, Mellix goes through the struggles of learning a new dialect of her already spoken language. She worries about her life if she keeps speaking Black English. In the end she wants to make something out of herself. In “From Outside, In”. Mellix
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She begins to fight with her words to begin to change how people perceive her people. If she did not worry so much about her culture she would not have worked so hard to change anything about it. She would have just let the Chinese live up to their stereotypes. In Mellix’s essay, the Black English she speaks and grew up with is different from the Standard English she has to teach herself while at The University of Pittsburgh. The Black language she grew up with was seen as unintelligent, which clearly Mellix was not. These social stereotypes given to these languages are what fuel these authors to constantly worry.
Even though the Chinese language sounds completely different from American English, some words do translate to the same meaning, which in turn brings up some similarities in each language. Both Tan and Mellix worry about their languages. Tan wants people to learn about the Chinese culture and squash any misbeliefs about it. Mellix wants to show people that even if you grew up with poor language skills you can still make something out of yourself. Each of these women, in Mellix’s words, “have something to prove”; For Tan to her readers and for Mellix to herself. Mellix describes a moment from her childhood, where she realizes how important learning standard language is, when she …show more content…
Leaning this Standard English was an internal fight, which in turn created a violence inside her. In this quote, Mellix not only shows this struggle, but also the importance of learning this Standard English. It is important to her to learn this Standard English but also to keep her roots inside of her. In order to make herself something in this world she has to prove that she is more than the color of her skin and the language she grew up with. Mellix has to make this new Standard English a part of her. This quote explains that even both Toby and Mellix spoke poor English, because Toby was white it was okay. This gave Mellix even more reason to fight to learn Standard English to prove to everybody that no matter your race you can become
She begins to fight with her words to begin to change how people perceive her people. If she did not worry so much about her culture she would not have worked so hard to change anything about it. She would have just let the Chinese live up to their stereotypes. In Mellix’s essay, the Black English she speaks and grew up with is different from the Standard English she has to teach herself while at The University of Pittsburgh. The Black language she grew up with was seen as unintelligent, which clearly Mellix was not. These social stereotypes given to these languages are what fuel these authors to constantly worry.
Even though the Chinese language sounds completely different from American English, some words do translate to the same meaning, which in turn brings up some similarities in each language. Both Tan and Mellix worry about their languages. Tan wants people to learn about the Chinese culture and squash any misbeliefs about it. Mellix wants to show people that even if you grew up with poor language skills you can still make something out of yourself. Each of these women, in Mellix’s words, “have something to prove”; For Tan to her readers and for Mellix to herself. Mellix describes a moment from her childhood, where she realizes how important learning standard language is, when she …show more content…
Leaning this Standard English was an internal fight, which in turn created a violence inside her. In this quote, Mellix not only shows this struggle, but also the importance of learning this Standard English. It is important to her to learn this Standard English but also to keep her roots inside of her. In order to make herself something in this world she has to prove that she is more than the color of her skin and the language she grew up with. Mellix has to make this new Standard English a part of her. This quote explains that even both Toby and Mellix spoke poor English, because Toby was white it was okay. This gave Mellix even more reason to fight to learn Standard English to prove to everybody that no matter your race you can become