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I chose this topic to determine the tone Tan had used in this essay. The main purpose of this essay was to bring out that there is no proper English and it is represented in various forms and different accents. Mother tongue should be seen as a tool that represents the nature of other's thoughts. We can see that in each country there are some number of immigrants settled. Tan brings out the cultural racism she had to face while she was growing up and what struggles she had to face by being the daughter of immigrant parents.
At the beginning of the story Tan says "I spent a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language ·····....all the English I grew up with", by this she shows how important knowing a language is to her and maintains the importance throughout the whole Essay. she gives deep thinking about how not knowing a language portrays our communication skills with others, expresses our emotions and the way we feel with our friends and family.
Many people believe that not knowing English is a big disadvantage and something to be ashamed of as they would argue that the lack of communication skills limits us from surviving in America knowing that all the people might take us for granted and might get swindled.
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Proficient in: English Language
5 (876)
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Many people have disjointed or choppy accents which may not be acceptable by others. What this argument fails to consider is that language need not be complex, perfectly structured with proper prepositions.
Language can be simple, yet filled with passion and thoughts. Mother tongue is not just a language, it expresses our emotions and feelings more better than any other language. Improper English doesn't matter when the point that we're trying to convey is clear. Even though Tan was feeling ashamed of her mother, after realizing her mother was being discriminated, her perspective changed immediately and came to know that her mother's English represented her home.
The audience that Tan is trying to reach are the people that have been criticized just that the fact they are from a different race and are being made fun of by not knowing the native language and are not able to make social interactions with others. This novel can also be written to the people who have a "language of intimacy" with their family. There were different types of English Tan spoke to different groups of people, she spoke "proper English" with the rest of the American society but she felt awkward to use the proper English words in front of her mother which brings the separation from her mother and the other English Tan spoke was "simple English" which was considered as Tan's family English and this brought a bond with her mother. Tan always felt that her mother's English was good and didn't need any change in it even though later she indicates that it is "Broken" and was not understood by most of her friends. It symbolizes the limitations of immigrants in America back in the day which made it strenuous for tan and her mother to adjust with the surroundings and learn English fast, this is why even after years of Tan's mother in America she wasn't able to learn proper English and had the same Chinese accent when she spoke with others even though in the present day there are more than 44.5 million immigrants settles in America. Her mother's English made Tan remind herself of home as she grew up with this broken English. Tan's mother was criticized most of time for her limited English. Once Tan described an incident that when she and her mother went to the restaurant, the waiters didn't even pay attention to her mother when she spoke to them and the same happened when they went to a hospital. Tan explains that her mother's broken English has limited her in her early years, when it came to the standard English test. Even though she felt embarrassed by her mother's English in the beginning that others will judge her later she felt proud of her mother and it was acceptable to follow a different culture.
Tan accomplished her goal of writing a book when her mother told that it was easy to read. This shows how that the author makes an amendment in her words and continuously changes her mind from being censure to being proud, when it comes to her mother's English. She is not able to make her point clear therefore by confusing the readers about the way she feels about her mother's English. There were 2 tonal shifts which I have described before that initially Tan shows that she was embarrassed then later she was proud, this shows the maturity of Tan when she was ashamed of her mother and thought her mother's English reflected upon her thoughts and who she was as for when Tan's mother made Tan speak as her because of the way she spoke but Tan later realized that it was common to not know proper English and this made the readers move along the writer by knowing the value of language and its acceptable in its own way. Tan decided to major in English and has been rebellious about it as this is when she decides to call her mother's English simple instead of broken, as I have mentioned before she acknowledges the worthiness of her mother tongue and its pleasing the way it is.
Tan uses the same tone in the beginning and end of her story, and uses a different tone in the middle. The reader starts at a homebase, sees the journey Tan is leading them on, and returns right back to where they started but with more insight than before.
During Tan's childhood Tan had an advantage of using the various forms of English she had learnt in her carrier when it was necessary for Tan to go to different countries. The fact that Tan knew many languages gave her more potential over her mother in the knowledge using literacy. Despite the fact that Tan was from china and didn't even know proper English but now has written a book on her own with proper usage of words and grammar shows how much she loves languages and would do anything to learn it
I believe will be a more limited amount of readers and more Chinese American readers than any other because they can relate the most out of this text.
Overall, I agree with Tan. I agree with her that language is about meaning/intent and not solely based on perfect vocabulary or perfect speech. At the end of the day, the Mother Tongue is just another language and every language has its own way of interpreting meaning and passion. I also agree that the Mother Tongue is something important and something that should be valued, but I need to address something as well. I believe that the Mother Tongue is much more than a language spoke between you and your parents/family. The Mother Tongue is a way of speech that defines you and your cultural background and given that it is something of value, it needs to be protected. The Mother Tongue isn't something to be ashamed of, but instead, should be something that should be embraced and protected.
English represented in various forms and different accents. (2019, Nov 18). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/english-represented-in-various-forms-and-different-accents-essay
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