RRR"Mother Tongue"

 In Amy Tan's narrative "Mother Tongue" (1990) she observes experiences that made her realize the types of English she uses. Tan's mother's dialect experiences explain the struggle of Chinese-American mothers and teenagers in America. Tan's purpose is to inform the readers about the interpretation of differentiating standard and broken English and the outcomes of the usage of certain English. Based on the essay the audience is anyone who struggles with English, grew up in a non-fluent English-speaking home or any Chinese-American community.

This passage is very relatable to some people. People like me, who somewhat speak in broken English just like her mother. Sometimes when I am out and I try to communicate with other people I tend to realize that when I’m talking all they do is nod their head and smile and give me a simple response that can be a response to anything. It is very amusing that I am not the only one who experiences these things.

 Normally in this country, the people who have either better speech or better tone are the ones who end up with great outcomes, this passage by Tan supports that statement. Tan is a female who has a very creative and intellectual vocabulary, unlike her mother whose English is very broken. She stated “My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call on the phone to pretend I was she,” (119) This action was used to benefit and gain an advantage for her mother so that she would get the things she asked for. She also gave an example stating that “People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her”. Both statements show the outcomes of when people with good grammar ask for something versus when people with broken English ask for something. Mainly in Tan’s passage, she is supporting that people with better grammar often have the better advantage than people with broken language.