In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan considers the various implications of the different “Englishes” that she became acquainted with, and she pays particular attention to the “limited” and “broken” English used by her mother (2-3). Tan does not consider terms like “broken” and “fractured” to be appropriate because of their negative connotations and implications about her mother’s intelligence that are not true. However, she cannot find a better descriptor to represent the way her mother expresses thoughts in English. Her mother’s English and others’ reaction to it led to several limitations that Tan had to deal with in her personal and professional life.
First, Tan claims that her mother’s issues with English impacted Tan’s ideas about her. While pointing out that difficulties with grammar or sentence structure in speech do not imply anything about her mother’s abilities, Tan admits that this manner of speaking used to be embarrassing to her. Because Tan was aware of the way this type of speech was often dismissed or derided, Tan used to be ashamed of her mother.
Furthermore, the English of her mother, which Tan terms as her mother tongue, may have affected Tan’s performance at school. Tan points out that relatives have an impact on the formation of a child’s language-related skills. To prove the idea, Tan observes that her struggle with English is mirrored by other Asian Americans. Besides, Tan criticizes English tests that she used to have to take because they did not account for the diversity of thought processes in students.
Finally, Tan believes that people around her have always expected her to fail to use English correctly. She suspects that the lack of support from teachers may have contributed to her initially pursuing math rather than English at school. Thus, Tan feels like her mother tongue and the reaction of others to it could have denied her access to the literary career that she eventually made her vocation.
Problems persisted even after Tan started writing professionally. Initially, she established a style that would contradict others’ expectations and prove her mastery of English. She used excessively complex language and vocabulary that she did not employ in real life, which is why she eventually found that she hated her writing and decided to change it. Thus, even Tan’s early style was limited and defined by other people’s reactions to her mother tongue and expectations that she tried to defy.
Work Cited
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. 2013. Web.