Preview

Reading Journal For Mother Tongue

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
376 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Reading Journal For Mother Tongue
Miesha Smith
Ms. Hughes Writing Workshop 11:00 22 February 2015 Reading Journal for “Mother Tongue”
The title of this story is “Mother Tongue”
From the background information, I learned that Asian American students didn’t do as well on the English & writing part of their standardized test as they did on the math part of the test.
The name of the author of this story is Amy Tan.
The introductory paragraph of the Amy Tan’s essay prepares you for what you will be reading by explaining to the reader about the love she has for English and how fascinated she is by it.
The only dark print heading in the essay of “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is the Background on Asian Americans and standardized test.
“Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks.”
“My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well.”
“I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well.”
From the last paragraph, I learned that Amy Tan wanted to write her books to so her mother who’s English is limited, would be able to understand them.
Comprehension Questions
1.
2.
3.
4. Tan says her mother’s English was a handicap in situations like when Tan’s mother would have her call people on the phone and pretend as if she was her mother Summary
The essay, “Mother Tongue” is written by Amy Tan. In this essay, Amy Tan emphasizes the idea that we all speak different languages and that we are categorized by the way we speak. The author is a fictional writer who is “fascinated by language in daily life” and uses language as a daily part of her work as a writer.
Reflection
I believe that the idea of people judging you your intelligence by the way you speak, is wrong. Reading Mother Tongue makes me become more patient with people who cannot speak English as clear as I can. Before reading Mother Tongue, I use to think that anyone who couldn’t speak proper English, were not well educated. After reading Mother

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The essay “Mother Tongue” describes a writer who grew up with a mother of Asian origin and the limitations created by her mother’s speech. The author, Amy Tan, defines her mother’s English as “broken” and that it created communication barriers. For example, when Tan’s mother would need to call her boss about work, she would rely on her daughter to make the phone call and use proper english. When Tan decided to go into English in college, it seemed foolish since she was more skilled in math and science. The author also mentions how not everyone’s speech is the same, but that is not a bad thing. Tan decided to start writing fiction, and write a book in a way her mother would comprehend. Though the writing was harshly critiqued, Tan knew she…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mother Tongue In this passage the author Amy Tan talks about the different ways people speak in America, as an example she uses herself and her mother, she tells us that one time she was giving a speech in front of a large group and she was using all this big words, and phrases like she had learned in school, but all of a sudden she remember her mother was in the audience and she started to think her speech was bad and all her words were wrong because it was an English she never spoke with her mom, because she explains to us that the English her moms speaks is very broken and very bad because of her Chinese roots, as an example she gives us a paragraph describing a story her mom told her once about a gangster that wanted to join her family, she also tells us that when she was younger she was very ashamed of her mothers broken English, which I think is very funny because I know a lot of people that go threw that problem, and hate going places were their parents have to speak English, luckily for me I didn’t encounter that problem because my mother grew up in Kansa City and learned English at a very young age, so her English has been very good all threw my childhood, the bad part was that since she knew perfect English she was able to communicate with my teachers…

    • 3392 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Amy Tan's excerpt Mother Tongue focuses on her use of different Englishes when she was surrounded by different people. When surrounded by strangers, Tan spoke fluently in grammatically sophisticated English. However, Tan referred to the English she used with her mother as being a broken down, limited version of the English language. Despite this description, Tan didn't entirely agree with what these chosen adjectives suggested about her mother's English & intelligence. Tan's description of the different kinds of Englishes she found herself using reminded me of my own varied English use.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reading “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, it was rigorous for Asian Americans learning the English language. The article discusses the different languages of English that Tan had learned and frequently used throughout her life. Then the difficulties that she had learning in school because English wasn’t her best subject. Additionally, were issues that follow along her, due to the way Amy’s mother spoke English. English as a second language for Tan was very difficult, but through her mistakes, she succeeded. When she became a writer, it got easier after she realized the variety of languages she had already spoke throughout her lifetime. She constantly used diverse languages with multiple people and had absolutely no idea she was. It became easier for Amy to differentiate and correct herself. Tan’s life was hard for her to become the aspiring writer she wanted to be. As an Asian American, to succeed in something that no one believed she could was foolish. And even though English wasn’t Amy’s first language, in the long run it changed her understanding of the English language. Tan’s purpose was to show us how language can separate, unite, or isolate those who don’t speak perfect English. Literacy should have no limitations on how people view other people.…

    • 307 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Mother Tongue” (1990) an essay written by Amy Tan, a Chinese-American author who has written a lot of beautiful novels, Tan argues that all languages have a purpose and value. Tan tells us how every language has a purpose by giving us examples from her own life, specifically, she talks about the way her and her mother talked; her mother wasn’t very fluent in English, but the little English she could speak she could say smart and brilliant things like, “ . Tan uses personal examples in order to make us believe in the importance of language. The people she directs this story to is to people who grew up in English homes from birth to see just because someone doesn’t talk perfect English doesn’t mean they don’t know things, they do have brilliant…

    • 175 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” Tan grew up in a home with her Chinese mother who spoke English that she considered “broken”. It was difficult for others to understand what her mother was saying. Tan then realized that when she was with her mother that she spoke English differently than she did. She was trying to figure out how her background affected her life, such as her education; but she eventually learned to except her background. At the same time Tan wanted to become a writer and she found that by spending time with her mother who again spoke “broken” English. Even though she was told that writing was her worst skill by her boss, she was determined to make it work.…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan’s story “Mother Tongue” starts by the affirmation that she is not a scholar of English or literature. She is just a writer and the person who understand the power of language. From Tan’s observations from her daily life, she realizes that there are different types of English that she uses. The first time Tan notices the difference is when she gives a speech on her book “The Joy Luck Club” using academic English, the one that she never uses to talk with her mother. The second time is when Tan talked using “fractured” English unconsciously with her mother when walking down the street. After that, Tan recalls her memories from her early age: the phone call for her mother to the stockbroker, the meeting with a doctor in the hospital for her mother’s CAT scan result to demonstrate her mother’s realization of “limited” English. Then Tan agrees with the idea that language spoken in…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, Amy writes about what it was like growing up with her mother's limited English. "because when I was growing up, my mother's 'limited' English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English." (1) As the author implies in this passage and throughout the article, other people's perception of…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    amy tan

    • 703 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this article, Amy Tan shares her personal encounters growing up with a mother who spoke imperfect English. She examines the diverse forms of English that she uses in her daily life. Tan grew up with many variations of English including her mother's “broken English” which was seen as limited and fractured. However, Tan sees her mother's language as vibrant and easy to understand through her mother’s sense of detail and imagery. Tan began to write fiction towards a target audience who would read her stories and decided to write with her mother in mind. When her mother read her stories and thought they were "So easy to read", Tan knew she had accomplished something very important. Ultimately, she concluded that no one should ever be evaluated on their intellect based on how properly they speak a language.…

    • 703 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "Mother Tongue" written by Amy Tan, the author reveals that there's bias in spoken and written language when communicating. The speaker herself says she uses different Englishes when speaking to her Chinese immigrant mother whose second language is under developed compared to hers. Ms. Tan alternates between different events that support a change in her own awareness involving forms of English, such as when speaking to a group about her herself, she notices herself saying, '"The intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to..."' while confessing that this is not her daily language when conversing with her mother or husband, that it’s a language of intimacy, which I believe is to be more vulnerable…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan essay

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the passage of “Mother Tongue,” the author Amy Tan uses strategies in a way to have the reader influenced by the point she is trying to prove. And in this case she is explaining the idea of language in the Asian-American community. She is speaking through multiple perspectives in her own life to show how society is not very understanding to people who are native speakers or can not speak as fluently, in a way that people view their English speaking in different ways and even have less respect for.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rogerian Essay

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the course of American history, immigrants have come in from all around the world. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan describes her mother’s experience as well as her own experiences with the English language. Amy Tan tries to give a more positive view of people who immigrate to this country and shine a light on those who try to take advantage of these immigrants. In her essay she appeals to pathos, applies subjective diction, and uses several anecdotes in order to clearly tell the experiences she and her mother have and to give us a better understanding of people who do not speak English well like her mother.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Reading

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” (1990), she emphasize that her mother’s way of speaking English has created a cultural wall. Tan used truth from her life and her mother’s personal experiences to express how society treats people who speak poor English. Tan’s purpose was to encourage the reader not to prejudge a person who speaks imperfect English and in spite of how the individual speak, they should be treated the same way as the person who speaks perfect English. Tan’s anticipated audience was anyone who’s been judge or mistreated because of their imperfect English and anyone who judged or look down on a person that speaks imperfect English.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    mother tongue

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Yet, many people use language to evaluate people. They think that people who can’t speak perfect English will people who can’t think perfectly. Her mother is treated disrespectful by a stockbroker, who doesn’t really pay attention on what she needs. Whereas, with Tan saying perfect English, the stockbroker does the work quickly. The hospital that gives her mother a CAT scan doesn’t apologize for the lose of the result until Tan talks with the doctor.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics