Taming A Wild Tongue Summary

In the article of “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” written by Gloria Anzaldua, she discusses about the relationship between the language and identity. In the other article, which is “Mother Tongue” written by Amy Tan, she discusses her observation and thoughts about using the English and the perceptions, prejudices from other people regarding other languages. Both articles are pointing out how important is the language is in our lives and how we can suffer if we are not using do not use it correctly. Using another language can be very beneficial or painful depending on the way the people use it. Amy Tan discusses the different “Englishes” she uses depending on the situations she is in. For instance she uses “broken” or “limited” English when she talks to her mother or sometimes to her husband. On the contrary she uses proper English when she is giving a speech to a crowd. She mentions the importance of the words in the article by saying, “power of language -- the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a
That makes people to believe that’s a poor quality language. This belief made Chicanos uncomfortable with their expressions. Gloria Anzaldua believes that this should be change. She says “if a person with a low estimation of my native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me!” She states that the language is a part of her ethnic identity and nobody shouldn’t feel shame about it. She gives us an example from her school about how hard is to be an immigrant in another country whose native language is different than yours. She has been punished just for speaking Spanish at school and being accused when she tried to give an explanation. Her teacher’s point was “If you live in America, you should speak English” even though this is against to the first