Amy Tan On English Language in Mother’s Tongue

In her memoir, Mother Tongue, Amy Tan discusses the difficulties of learning English as a second language. She writes about how she struggled to speak and write in perfect English even though she is an American citizen.

Amy uses emotional appeals throughout her essay as she does in her first couple of paragraphs. Amy says “I am a writer” to show that she simply loves to write down her mind and that is it.

Tan’s argument is simply referring to the somewhat embarrassment she has when people notice her mother’s broken English.

As she goes on it begins to bother her to the point where she feels sympathetic for her mother. As she feels this, she uses emotional appeals such as personal experiences to further her argument.

She divides this essay into three sections to show the different styles or forms of English then how she feels a little embarrassed by her mother’s broken English then shows how people judge her and title her as ignorant or limited.

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In reality, Amy’s mother is intelligent. She then goes into how her mother and any other limited English speaker is treated differently due to that. If there were no breaks then the three sections would still be clear.

Tan relatively gives much meaning behind her argument with her mother. That many foreigners are judged for their limited English and that Americans may have that problem with the judgment. That this is an issue that can open the eyes of anyone, whether they experience it or not.