In the short story Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, the author says that because of her mother’s imperfect English skills, the “people in department stores, banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her,” and “the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and… they did not seem to have any sympathy when she told them she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis, since her husband and and had both died of brain tumor” (Tan 453-454). Lack of ability to speak fluent English could be unfavorable to the immigrants in many ways. They could be discriminated and, in case of many first generation immigrants, would have to rely heavily on their children to receive social benefits. Establishing English as the national language will further encourage the immigrants to learn the language for their own
In the short story Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, the author says that because of her mother’s imperfect English skills, the “people in department stores, banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her,” and “the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and… they did not seem to have any sympathy when she told them she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis, since her husband and and had both died of brain tumor” (Tan 453-454). Lack of ability to speak fluent English could be unfavorable to the immigrants in many ways. They could be discriminated and, in case of many first generation immigrants, would have to rely heavily on their children to receive social benefits. Establishing English as the national language will further encourage the immigrants to learn the language for their own