Linneth M-Mother Tongue Reading Response

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan is a really emotional essay very relatable for any immigrant family growing up in a bilingual environment, The concept of the “englishes” refer to the way Amy Tan spoked based on the public she was reaching, she came to the conclusion that her “Mother Tongue” was a broken english and that she could switch between complex expressions and basic ones, thanks to being raised in a immigrant, bilingual family. Amy’s mother way of speaking is key on this essay, being one of the central idea and a base for her arguments developed throughout the reading; She explains how her mother tongue impacted in her life, and how her mindset regarding it changed with her age, before she used to be ashamed of it and of the treatment her mother got because of her accent and her grammar, however now this “broken” english makes her feel like home, and made her realize that she wanted to write for all people to understand, specially her mother. As an immigrant and a spanish speaker I can relate very much to this essay, it makes me appreciate my mother’s broken english and her strong accent in situations i used to be ashamed of it, and made me realize that there is a difference in how you write an essay or a journal entry and just a text to your friend or family, language, accents and slang play a really important role in a person’s daily life and it’s interesting to realize that the human brain just switch it according to the public and the situation.