Vanessa Espin

While reading ” Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, I got caught up in her story right away. She described her mothers way of talking English very well. I was able to picture her and her mother throughout the hole story and it was very comic. The author started the story explaining her passion for writing, continued with the different kind of English she spoke at home with her mother and ended it with a gratitude feeling towards her mom who as been her inspiration throughout her carrier as a writer.

I found it compelling when she said ” Well according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary might have thought of him.” It wasn’t that her mom had “limited English” it was that she saw it as very open answer. There was more then one possibility and words you can play with.

I also found interesting when she said ” Some say they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understood none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mothers English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural”. While a third person might see it as broken or not even English at all, for Amy Tan it was completely understandable and normal. This was the language that she was taught as growing up and it was part of her identity.

Did Amy Tan study English to be rebellious and prove a point or because it was her passion?

The Purpose of her story is to connect with everyone but mainly those who have immigrated to the U.S. Bringing with them not only culture and variety but also creating their own version of English which has been passed on to their children. Also to let people know that we can learn more then one version of English, the one you speak at home and the proper one. To not limit yourself specially with language.