Amy Tan's Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue is a story about a mother-daughter relationship between the writer and her mother and the difficulties that they had to face as immigrants in a foreign country. The story also centers around the difficulties that her mother had with English and how she evolved her own dialect that later became part of their relationship.
At the beginning of the story, Tan makes it clear that she was not much of an enthusiast of English making her claim that she was no expert on English. “I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others”(1). This statement helps the readers understand her feelings towards this language that she writes to us in, and how she is in no way to be considered an expert. Also mentioned is her
She explains that her mother’s English was perfect and clear, almost better than regular English. “Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world”(2). This strengthens the idea that their language was their bond as Tan saw no flaw in her mother’s English, and to her, there was nothing wrong with the language her mother spoke. She then goes on to say “It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness”.(3) This makes the readers understand her feelings in relation not only her mother but the love of the language that her mother used as a child. She expresses a reoccurring theme through her entire story stating various times that her mother, although lacking knowledge of the language, is not