The author of "Mother Tongue" describes how she grew up her entire life hearing her mother speak "broken" English and how used to it she was. It had gotten to a point where she spoke that same way and thought or felt that her mother's English was perfect/proper. Society made her realize that the English she was used to wasn't really understandable, or as she thought, proper. The author managed to bring back experiences and thoughts that I've personally had relating to my English and my family's English. I can actually relate to this a lot, as many people might already know. Although I have an accent, I feel like I speak somewhat properly. My English isn't broken, I just sound different. Ha ha! On the other hand though, my family's English can be considered broken but I can still understand them completely even when what they said makes no sense to any other person. I guess its because I know what they tried to say in Spanish and realize that they translated it in a way that doesn't make sense in English, but I completely get the idea of what they tried to say and many times correct them. I feel like the theme of the story is that people, including me, need to understand that not only our peers influence our way of expressing ourselves (talking), but our families have influence as well and it doesn't mean that our English is proper or perfect just because we're used to the way they talk.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Post 2: "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan
The author of "Mother Tongue" describes how she grew up her entire life hearing her mother speak "broken" English and how used to it she was. It had gotten to a point where she spoke that same way and thought or felt that her mother's English was perfect/proper. Society made her realize that the English she was used to wasn't really understandable, or as she thought, proper. The author managed to bring back experiences and thoughts that I've personally had relating to my English and my family's English. I can actually relate to this a lot, as many people might already know. Although I have an accent, I feel like I speak somewhat properly. My English isn't broken, I just sound different. Ha ha! On the other hand though, my family's English can be considered broken but I can still understand them completely even when what they said makes no sense to any other person. I guess its because I know what they tried to say in Spanish and realize that they translated it in a way that doesn't make sense in English, but I completely get the idea of what they tried to say and many times correct them. I feel like the theme of the story is that people, including me, need to understand that not only our peers influence our way of expressing ourselves (talking), but our families have influence as well and it doesn't mean that our English is proper or perfect just because we're used to the way they talk.
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I completely agree with what your have said in your post! I think the way you compared you own mother tongue to Amy Tan's was really cool. I also agree that your peers and family play a big part in our speech and language. Good Job!!
ReplyDeleteI think you did an awesome job describing the theme of this story. I really love how you were able to compare it to your own life. Keep up the hard work!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you described the article. I know what you mean when you say that there are some things that only family members can understand.
ReplyDeleteI feel that you have caught the theme of this story perfectly in your post. You have given a personal experience that helps others understand what the article was expressing. You did an excellent job at capturing "Mother Tongue".
ReplyDeleteI got the same thing from the essay. Even though I could not express it in the same way you did I feel the same way you did. You caught was she was trying to say very well. Good job.
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