Get SweetStudy Amy Tan Mother Tongue 2009-2024

She wrote using the simple English, the one she used when she spoke to her mother. She wrote using the broken English her mother spoke, and the watered down Chinese Amy spoke, and the internal language her mother spoke.

English Amy Tan / Languages

It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks.

Tan's first language was used only with her Chinese family and would sometimes cause problems when in normal conversations. She would say things that would not make sense or words that only she and her mother could understand. The second language she used was “academic English,” which she learned from school and books. Language In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan - IPL.org ipl.org https://.ipl.org › essay › Language-In-Mother-Tong... ipl.org https://.ipl.org › essay › Language-In-Mother-Tong...

Tan knew that her mother knew that her English was imperfect and needed Tan to help her manage her affairs. Tan had to take on the role of her Mother and was embarrassed by the whole situation. Tan's intended audience are non-English speaking people who have broken English like her mother. Rhetorical Analysis Essay [Draft 1] cuny.edu https://johnsonchen.commons.gc.cuny.edu › rae_draft_1 cuny.edu https://johnsonchen.commons.gc.cuny.edu › rae_draft_1

Tan uses the nonstandard English of her childhood with her husband because it expresses intimacy. Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her.

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. As the essay progresses, Tan learns to accept her mother's broken english and uses it as inspiration for her writings. … show more content…

Throughout “Mother Tongue,” Tan considers ways that prejudice is internalized, leading people to place limits on themselves. Tan witnesses racially-motivated prejudice at a young age, observing how customer service workers and medical professionals treat her mother dismissively because of the way she speaks English. Mother Tongue Themes - LitCharts litcharts.com https://.litcharts.com › lit › mother-tongue › themes litcharts.com https://.litcharts.com › lit › mother-tongue › themes