“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan

Quote1: Like others, I have described it to people as ‘broken’ or ‘fractured’ English. But I wince when I say that. It always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. (Page1)

A1: The United States is a multiracial country, none of anyone can force anyone to speak perfect English, because English is their second language or even third language. Also, to mock and discriminate people because of the accent or the pronunciation, this behavior is ridiculous. Especially for the old people, they can’t spend a lot of time to learn English again. Maybe some people can not understand their English at all, then just say politely” Sorry, I didn’t get what you said.” Give them our understanding, that’s how this country gets stronger.

Q2: And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her. (Page2)

A2: If we continue this logic, should we make classification of people by the English level? Sounds horrible right? But that’s what really happen in the past which called segregation. I believe that the way people speak now is different from hundred years ago. But how do we comment on the way speak in the past? We mock it too? It’s just a different way to talk because we have the habit about speak our own language. This is the fact, and there is nothing that can be discriminated.

Q3: I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts. (Page4)

A3: I agree with that what the author said. I think language, speech, or the way that we speak, these are all to help us to present us, but they can never completely represent our minds. They cannot become marks of a person. English has many different types and those different types might help people to present something more clearly. 

Q4: I later decided I should envision a reader for the stories I would write. And the reader I decided upon was my mother, because these were stories about mothers. (Page3)

A4: This quote gave me a flash, we are learning writing now. Then why can’t I just read our work as a reader? To check which sentence or word is inappropriate. To check can I get all of the things that the author me wants to mention, as a reader. That will improve our writing.