Analysis Of Mother Tongue

Decent Essays
Being a person who grew up around Spanish speaking relatives and friends, I’ve grown to accept that everyone is different. Some were born in the U.S. while others came here from another country. Those who came from another country aren’t going to know the same language as us, and if they do, it will be “broken” English. I was able to relate myself to Amy Tan’s essay titled “Mother Tongue.” Amy Tan’s mother grew up knowing Chinese, but living in the United States, she had to learn English. Her English was difficult to understand because she was missing words when she’d speak. Her daughter, Amy, classified her English as being “broken” because it wasn’t completely like others. To Amy her mother tongue seemed perfectly fine because that is the …show more content…
She speaks in this manner to communicate with her audience in a way that we could understand and relate to her writing. Tan’s intention is to stress that just because someone can 't speak the English language perfect, it doesn’t make them less intelligent than someone who grew up speaking English fluently. This is the struggle immigrants face because of society. Society tends to mock, embarrass, or criticize how they speak because it isn’t something they’re used to. I’ve met many people from different parts of the world throughout my life, and each one of them has had a strong accent. I have even had professors with strong accents, but that doesn’t mean they are not smart. In fact, they are smarter than someone who has lived in the U.S. their entire life. The downfall of today’s society is, by not being able to speak fluent English, finding a job can become very difficult. Even if you are born in the U.S, many households only speak their native tongue, so a person can grow up learning a different language and have broken English when they …show more content…
Many people who come from wealthy families are living life to the fullest, and celebrities do the same, but it does not mean that a person who is living paycheck to paycheck has to spend everything they have on the latest trends. However, because society has a tendency to get into the minds of people admiring them, they are the reason so many children are obsessed with the latest shoes, cell phones, tablets, just everything overall. They tend to use the children to get what they want and that’s to bring business their way. This trend has an old title, “Keeping up with the Joneses.” I never knew what that meant until now. When searching for a real meaning behind the term, “keeping up with the Joneses,” I found an article titled “A Praying Woman.” I really enjoyed how Brunson was able to compare this term to the bible. She compared how Cain became jealous when he saw the Lord showed favor in Abel’s offerings to the Lord. “Cain began to compare his offering with his brother’s and wondered why he did not receive favor from the Lord. He grew angry and resulted in killing his brother in the field” (Genesis 4). This shows that the judgment from society is not something that just arose on its own. It began long before any of us were born. In her article she clearly states, “We live in a society that tells us that we are not good enough. We

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When I came to the United States, I was educated and spoke English. It was British English; the pronunciation, spellings of some words and some of the grammar were completely different. When I enrolled in middle school, everybody made fun of me; all the students thought I was not smart because I could not communicate with them in American English. However, it was not just hard to communicate with other men, but it was also hard to communicate with women because I am a man. I believe that there is a difference in how individuals communicate; it all depends on a person’s gender and the language he or she grew up speaking.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Se Habla Espan᷉ol and Mother Tongue Tanya Maria Barrientos and Amy Tan are similar but also contain some key differences. Barrientos and Tan are children of immigrants that are ashamed of their families heritage. Although Barrientos and Tan were raised within different cultures, they are both ashamed of where they came from. As Barrientos says, “I wanted to call myself Latino, to finally take pride, but it felt like a lie” (631).…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States has rapidly conformed into a multiracial society. Bilingual individuals come to America in hopes to find equal rights and freedom and face discrimination by Americans. American values are forced upon these people and according to Tan and Anzaldua, a certain way of life is expected of them. The struggle of “fitting in” and accepting the cultural background is a major point in both essays, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua. Their experiences with the discrimination in the United States have given them they reason to stand against social inequality.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mother Tongue Analysis

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Language discrimination can be defined as the prejudical treatment against individuals who are unable to precisely get their message across as a result of what society views as "poor" or "limited" English. This is the reality for many people to whom english is a second language. Unfortunetly these individuals are disadvantaged by one of two things; their accent and/or non standard grammar. This is evident in Amy Tan's article Mother Tongue as well as Diane Eades Legal Recognitiong of Cultural Difference in Communication: The Case of Robyn Kina.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assignment 7-1 Analysis

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Amy Tan talks about how growing up with her mothers "broken English" made things more difficult due to the lack of respect that others give when they hear the simple English. Tan addresses how when she became an English major teachers tried to steer her away because it was not her strongest suit. She learned that since there are many types of English she should write her stories in ways that her mother can read them with ease. Even if you live in America it does not mean that you are completely American. The author of "Mother Tongue" addresses this issue from her experiences growing up in California.…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Writing About Writing Authors write for different reasons, at times it is to inform the reader on a particular or several subjects, others it is to persuade the reader on a particular opinion. It does not matter which reason the writer is using to convey their opinion, a few things must remain true. The Author must be able to show his conviction, while remaining subjective and must be able to address their subject to their audience.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Amy Tan Comparison

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages

    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…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The world is connected through a variety of languages and cultures. There are 7 continents on Earth. Each is broken into countries, states, cities, and regions. Each differs from each other in multiple ways. In the united states alone is made up of 50 states, all culturally different.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Broken” English negatively impacts immigrants on a daily basis. A great example of this negative impact is shown through “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. Tan’s parents fled from China in the 1940’s with many other people because of China’s Cultural Revolution and when they came to America, they had trouble assimilating with Americans. Tan, on the other hand, had a less difficult time adapting to the American Culture because she was born in America. In Mother Tongue, Tan begins the passage by explaining how powerful language is and then continues on to tell stories that help prove her point.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Amy Tan Mother Tongue

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Amy Tan, the author of “mother tongue” expresses what she learned growing up in a home where broken was spoken. She learned about how she spoke different to different people in her life, how people reacted to her mom’s broken English, and how this has affected her life growing up. Growing up, Amy was ashamed of her mother’s “limited English”. Her mother though knew that her English wasn’t very good. Some of Amy’s friends would not completely understand what her mom was saying.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Michael Maciel ENG 001A Prof. Sudderth Maya Angelou’s “Graduation” is a short story describing Maya Angelou’s high school graduation from her own point of view. In this story Maya does an exceptional job in making the reader feel the same emotions that she felt during this major event in her life. The way Angelou describes her surroundings and the emotions felt during the event makes the reader feel as if they were right next to Maya watching her class graduate.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Growing up in a big mixed family is a must to know two different languages, Spanish and English. It’s a great disadvantage because Today, I 'm a bilingual. Well, semi-bilingual. It’s useful to be able to communicate with my family, for work, and pretty much everywhere I go. But at the end of it all, it’s a blessing and curse.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays