Amy Tan Mother Tongue Summary

As a first generation Vietnamese American whose parents migrated from Vietnam, I have been exposed to different types of spoken English whether it were grammatically correct or incorrect and broken down. My experience is similar to the experience written about in the essay, “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan, whose author points out her passion for language and discusses the different “Englishes” she grew up with and their advantages and limitations on her life. In the essay, Tan points out the several Englishes such as the “simple” English she spoke to her mother with and the “broken” English her mother spoke to her with. Tan became aware of the multiple Englishes she deals with when she was giving a talk about her novel, “The Joy Club,” with her …show more content…
Tan describes an incident in which the hospital lost her mother’s CAT scan and expressed no sympathy when her mother spoke to them. However, when Amy Tan spoke with the doctor, they had, “…assurances that the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering [her] mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake,” (102). Tan uses this incident to express her mother’s limited English and its effect on her interaction with others. Due to her mother’s poor English, the doctor seemed less apathetic towards her unfortunate situation, possibly because they see her as an uneducated and ignorant person and thus not worth their time. Amy Tan who uses good English on the other hand, was able to acquire a more concerned response from the doctor because the doctor saw Tan as an educated and experienced person unlike how they viewed her mother. By making an assumption about a person based off of the way they use language, the doctor begins to treat them …show more content…
Tan explains that her mother “…reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease—all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand,” (101). The mother’s incapacity to articulate does not correlate with her intelligence. Her limited knowledge of English, due to the fact that it is her second language, prevents her from expressing her intricate thoughts and emotions. Consequently, the mother’s failure to produce complex thoughts prevents others from understanding what she is trying to comprehensively say. Many people other than those who speak poor English have gone through situations that were similar with this by simply being tongue-tied or being in a position where they tried unsuccessfully speaking their inner thoughts. I for one often find myself in situations where there are many things running across my mind, yet I have no words to convey