Mother Tongue

Logos, or logic, involves looking for arguments that make sense in a piece. Amy Tan’s essay is very logical. It makes complete sense, and is simple to understand. Being that it is a narrative, she uses examples to back up her statements about English. She tells the stories of her mother dealing with the stockbroker and the hospital as means to make her point clearer. Ethos looks at the author’s credibility. Tan is a well-known writer, and does a lot of public speaking. We can trust her qualifications as a writer and an English speaking American. When she shares her stories we can be sure that she is someone we can believe. Lastly, pathos, or emotion, is an appeal in writing. Especially with this type of writing, it is easy to find. “Mother Tongue” evokes many emotions. Readers in a way can empathize with Tan, when she shares the fact that she believes her mother’s broken English has limited her possibilities in life. It is appealing to all those who have experienced difficulty with…

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…

speaks broken English. It means they know another language. Everyone has a story behind them. Unfortunately, for people who do speak broken English, this can be a huge barrier living in America. Also, the world is sometimes unaware of how hard it can be for immigrants and children of immigrants because of this barrier. 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…

In the piece, “Mother Tongue”written by Amy Tan, Tan made the example with her mother and the hospital to prove to the readers that those who cannot speak perfect, or fluent English will be often disregarded or not equally treated compared to those who speak English well. When Tan described the example with the stockbroker, she wanted the audience to realize how her mother couldn’t get around in California properly with, for lack of a better word, broken English. She also described the feeling…

In the story mother tongue, the author explains the different types of English’s that are used in the story and the author names them limited, simple, and broken English. Therefore to explain the meaning of the various English’s, I would say that “simple” is just the meaning of proper English with good grammar or the English she usually uses when she is working as a writer. For an example when the author states her use of simple or perfect English in the text of the story. “And then I said in…

After reading Amy Tan’s, “Mother Tongue” and Paule Marshall’s, “From the Poets in the Kitchen” I pondered and formed several opinions and reactions about these two pieces of literature. Both stories compare and contrast in many ways. In Marshall’s story, she explains how listening to her mother and her friend’s in the kitchen throughout her years as a child had blossomed her as a writer and a person. Marshall reveals instances of how this occurred and what effects it had on her mother, her…

Response to Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan, a famous Chinese-American novelist, in her essay "Mother Tongue", tells us she live with a “broken English” mother and it had a negative impact on her English performance. Nevertheless, she never gave up and chose English as her major. Fortunately, her books are recognized by the world and she became a best-selling author. Finally, she using her own special English in her writing career and reveal her mother’s thoughts. Why her mother did not speak…

essay, Mother Tongue, Tan discusses her struggles growing up as an Asian-American born to Chinese immigrants. She examines certain aspects of the language she speaks and writes, against the language her mother speaks and writes. Amy has a keen grip on “proper” English, most likely due to her being raised in America. Alternatively, Tan’s mother speaks in fragments of English due to her being an immigrant who fled China’s Cultural Revolution (Amy, 1990). Tan realises her different “Englishes” when…

Reading Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue", I came across the idea of language being "fractured and broken". In the essay, she provided examples of how her mother's limited English caused her to be given poor service at department stores, banks, and restaurants; stating how people would usually consider a lack of depth in their thinking due to their "broken" or "limited" use of language. Conversely, she thinks that her mother's English is "vivid, full of observation and imagery". Indeed, Chinglish is…

some are scary, and some are painful to listen to. However, most citizens born in the United States only truly believe that there is one outcome to immigration: it is hard and people suffer. Which in most cases is true, but at the same time people need to realize that there are many diverse outcomes. Looking at “Niño” by David Mitchell and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan side by side sheds light…