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Mother Tongue Summary & Response

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Mother Tongue Summary & Response
In the article "Mother Tongue"Amy Tan shares her personal opinions on the English Language. She discusses the different forms of English that she uses in her daily life. One form of English she grew up with is her mother's broken English which by others is sometimes seen as limited and fractured. Amy sees her mother's language as vivid, clear, and natural. It is direct and full of imagery. She can understand it clearly. It is her mother tongue. She discovers that Asian-American students don't do well in English classes in school. They do much better in math and science. Amy decides to write stories and rebells against the fact that she is told that she should hone her talents in account management. She began to write fiction. She envisioned a reader to who would read her stories and decided to write with her mother in mind. She knew she had succeeded when her mother finished reading her book and gave her verdict as "So easy to read."

Response

"Mother Tongue"
I found Amy Tan's article very interesting. I have often wondered how the English language is for those who come from other countries and cultures. I have heard that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. Reading about Amy having to make phone calls for her mother because people often dismissed her because of her 'broken' English was kind of funny and having to listen to her mother trying to get her point across but having much difficulty. I imagine growing up was hard when people didn't take you seriously and found you hard to understand. I think she was very brave to go for an English major and start to write fiction. She states that one of the sentences she had written which she even had trouble understanding. I enjoyed this article and learned a lot from it.

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