What is Amy Tan purpose for writing Mother Tongue?

The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others.

What does Amy Tan say is her Mother Tongue?

But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.

How does Amy Tan use imagery in Mother Tongue?

Tan is very attached to her mother’s English to the point that she doesn’t want to refer to it as “broken.” To her it symbolizes home because it’s the English she grew up with. She says it provides imagery and emotions that standard, grammatically-correct English cannot.

How does Amy Tan feel about language?

Tan has been judged by her language, and has seen people disrespect her mother, because of how she speaks, but it was because of that she was able to see through the different languages and become who she is today.

What influence has Tan’s mother had on her daughter’s writing?

As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home.

What is Mother Tongue essay?

The mother tongue is the language that we use most freely and actively in all cases of daily life. The child learns the world through the mother tongue. This term refers to the language we hear from our parents, which we are brought up in and which is common to the people and the place where we were born.

Which statement best expresses the central idea of Mother Tongue?

Which statement best expresses the central idea of “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan? The value of our words is not changed by our ability to use language.

What is mother tongue essay?

What type of text is mother tongue?

‘Mother Tongue’ is a short story written by Amy Tan for American literary magazine, The Threepenny Review (Shea, n.d.). This text raises ideas around the way we speak or use language throughout our daily lives, and what truly counts as ‘proper’ English.

What are the different Englishes Tan describes in this essay?

Tan describes the four different types of English she would use at home and outside her home. She would use “simple”, “broken”, “limited”, and “proper” English, but didn’t like to use the word broken because broken means there is something that needed to be fixed.

What does Tan say she has realized she does when speaking and writing?

Tan realized that she was using a different type of english to talk to her mother than when she was talking to the younger kids she was giving speeches too.