Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan Response
Christine Mitchell
When reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan the story really stood out to me, people probably never really realized how many people come from families where they speak broken English.  Amy Tan describes a girl whose family is from china and speaks broken English, English that’s always been normal to her. She also goes on to describes some of the struggles her mother faced due to her English being limited. I think many people who come from a different country definitely can relate to this story; I myself can relate growing up in a home where my mother first language was Spanish, at times it was difficult for my mom to express herself in English.
One thing that stood out to me was when the author stated “my mother’s expressive command  of English belies how much she actually understand,” even though her mother is unable to express herself well in English does not mean that she does not understand English well. My mother who is a Spanish woman at times her English does not come out to well, but that doesn’t mean her understanding of English is crippled by lack of communication. She’s able to understand what the news reporter are saying and is perfectly able to pick up a news paper or magazine and read it with no hesitation. I think that’s why when she heard people or even when she would refer to her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured” she would cringe.
Something else that caught my attention is that due to the lack of her mothers English she would at times struggle in department stores or in restaurants and wouldn’t get the proper service. The author goes on to say “my mother has long realized the limitation of her English as well,” due to her mother limited English speaking at times she was force to make phone calls her mother was unable to make. I myself still do this till this very day for my mother, I still call credit card companies, or accompany my mom to doctors appointment and make sure she understands everything and she receive the proper service and care.
I think the author propose was to show the struggle that people face who are not from the U.S. when it comes to speaking English. Also to show people that you do not have to be ashamed of your way of speaking English there’s always room to expand your language.
