Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

"Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. After reading over my work, I believe Ms. Tan reflect the different struggles she encounters while growing up in a bilingual house hold. Not only does she have to teach her Chinse language, she must learn the English language. In her home, she states the differences in English that is spoken. When she is outside the home, she states her English is a more adapted English, in the home is more of a "broken " English. She also states, her trails while growing up and now, and that she would not change a thing. She shows us how closer she has become to her mother thru these trials and she love how her mother speaks and finds herself speaking the same way around her.

I believe she was trying to make us understand the difference of the English languages. The way different cultures projects the English language. In the essay, she uses her own family and the relationship between her mother and herself while growing up in a house hold with different cultures. The ages between her mother and herself shows us how Ms. Tan had to adapt to how she spoke with her mother and how she spoke to others outside the home. 

As I read the essay, "Mother Tongue", I realized that the author, Amy Tan, seems to help us understand the different types of English spoken in America.

She uses her relationship with her mother, to show us the difference between the older generation and younger generation from cultures such as hers Chinese. Her mother being from China and not her and Amy being born here not China. The struggles between them seem to decrease as Amy gets older. She respects her mother more for trying to blend in with her surroundings, but not giving up.

She decided in her first writing that her main reader would be her mother. "So with this reader in mind-and in fact she did read my early drafts-I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother which for lack of a better term might be described as "simple"; the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term, might be described as "broken": my translation of her Chinese which could certainly be described as "watered down"; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure". (Tan, Amy, 2003)

With that said, I believe she explains why she chose to write this essay about her mom. She wants to reach the heart of the reader, with the story behind the story.

I agree with the author's point in the section of the essay. I can understand why it would be hard to use correct English with different types of cultures. In the "Mother Tongue", Ms. Tan describes the different types of English she grew up with and how she would overcome the difficulties. I believe she uses the difficulties with her mother very well. She explain why she felt the need to use her mother as her reader, in doing so, she was able to talk to her mother in a way that her mother would understand. You see her mother could read the English language, but just could not speak it well, so Ms. Tan decided that her audience would be her mother. I believe this was a great idea on behave of Amy Tan. This way she could show how difficult it was for her to communicate with her mother and her mother with her.

The second key point in this essay I believe is to explain how she grew up and how that was a factor in her chosen career as a writer.

She states in her essay that most Asian-Americans were only good at engineering, this is way Ms. Tan decided to beat the odds. "I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with. I happen to be rebellious and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me. I became an English major my first year in college," (Tan, Amy (2003)

As I read about how the university just assumes that all Asian-Americans were supposed to only go into engineering, I was not happy, then again it was the 1980's.

I like the way she just said, I want to be a writer and I am going to be a writer. She took her life in her own hands, leaving the negative people behind. She had to go thru lots of trial and error to achieve her passion. I believe she is a strong woman just like her mother. and the fact, with the strong will person, she was and is able to creative, write, and explore her abilities in a new way. Using all her Englishes, she can expand her readers minds. I believe she met her goal and went beyond. She is showing her readers that they too can overcome any obstacles that comes their way if you put your mind to it. I love her quote she gave before I read her essay, "Don't judge a book by its cover...are someone's intelligence by her English". (Tan, Amy. 2003)