Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. But it does have a loose progression. The phrase "mother tongue" refers to the language people learn to speak first. Latest answer posted March 28, 2020 at 9:26:15 PM. This question is about the essay "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. They resemble chapters in a book as they each have a different focus, while still relating all to each other and being interconnected. In directly quoting her mother, Tan is able to demonstrate her mother's speech patterns in text form. "Mother tongue," as it is used in the title of this piece, is a pun on the traditional idea. Tan says she uses "simple English" around her mother, and while this isn't the same form that her mother speaks, it symbolizes the bond between her and her family. Tan was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. What is Amy Tans primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"? /Producer ( Q t 4 . What motivates her to make such an argument?" Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" is a wonderful tale that addresses the substance of languages and how language is not only a tool of communication, but a sociological tool of measuring individual worth. The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. Many of the terms, such as broken or limited, are too negative and imply her English is imperfect. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine's books with ease--all kinds of things I can't begin to understand. Though Mother Tongue is a very short narrative, its rich in content. Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. She wouldn't budge. 291 terms. c. Her mother relies on and trusts Tan to talk to the doctors about the CAT scan. "But I have noticed in surveys in fact, just last week that Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English. Flashcards. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. In Tan's experience with the SATs, it was suggested that Tan's strengths lie within mathematics and science because of her higher scores on those exams; it didn't account for her struggle with understanding the format of the test questions. When her mother told her that what she had written was easy to read, Tan knew that she had succeeded in her aims as a writer. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. endobj You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived.". How is Amy Tan's use of the phrase "mother tongue" ambiguous? In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. However, in Amy Tan's story, I believe she is making a statement about her mother's form of English: her mother's tongue. /Type /ExtGState I gone to boy's side, they haveYMCA dinner. << From guilty to gracious, annoyed to appreciative, Amy Tan uses a few different tones throughout Mother Tongue. Identify these tones and explain how they are employed (the language used to convey the tones), and what effect it has on the reader. Who is the intended audience for "Mother Tongue"? State your opinion in an essay, and support it with evidence from at least two of the essays. Because there are quite a few different tones in this short story, they transition from one to the other. %PDF-1.4 Take Tan's mother's experience with the doctors as an example. 3. Tan is making the argument in "Mother Tongue" that she became a better writer when she began to use both the types of English she spoke to write books her mother could understand. 8 . What is Tan's strategy behind including a lengthy, direct quotation from her mother (para. In a short essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan reveals her background and describes different kinds of English that she had to speak in her childhood and adolescence. Indeed, Tan conjectures that many Asian American children are probably encouraged to pursue careers in jobs requiring maths and science rather than English for this reason. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. Indeed, her mother read drafts of her work. ACCTG 205: CH 1 Vocabulary. Tan highlights this dichotomy when she writes about giving her speech, saying the proper English words that she was using felt strange to say when her mother was in the room. Amy Tan says that she has come to realize that something unusual goes on with languageat least her own, based upon the Chinese her mother grew up speaking, the English her mother uses as her "second language," Amy's use of this special version of her mother's English, and her own perception that her mother's English was somehow "broken"at least this is how Ms. Tan used to feel. But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. Identify the message of Tan's essay, "Mother Tongue." Then evaluate her message. Tan identify the different categories she discusses in "Mother Tongue" almost in the last paragraph, where she named all the kind of English she uses. /SM 0.02 In a country where English is the dominant language, all of the school lessons are taught in it. She had cashed out her small portfolio and it just so happened we were going to go to New York the next week, our very first trip outside California. Chinese social life that way. Latest answer posted October 28, 2019 at 10:43:03 PM, Latest answer posted May 19, 2020 at 7:56:33 PM, Latest answer posted November 08, 2020 at 3:49:32 AM. All together, we expect forty or fifty volunteers to work on the project. /Type /XObject In "Mother Tongue," do you think that Tan and her mother have a close relationship? She makes this argument in various ways. Tan says that her identity as a writer was originally separate from her identity as her mother's daughter. While my English skills were never judged as poor, compared to math, English could not be considered my strong suit. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Hopefully this list leaves you feeling like youre no longer short on ideas for your analysis of this short story. He come to my wedding. nNSm`NO8 SL6x 9 tG%rzo=>ca3`!VW19>:HmoM!>? _E nYKyrO [%eLm ii+;t9xt;md/C?dSh[`N:)$9HAJI%i2. How would you characterize Tan's tone in the essay? Jing-mei's mother quizzes her on various topicsincluding state and national capitals, complicated mathematics, and weather predictionin hopes that she might possess a talent like the children. How does this story help you better understand the point Tan is making in her essay? In one or two paragraphs, describe the personal experience that the writer had in "Mother Tongue", and the understanding she gained through her reflection about the experience. Although Tan clearly appeals to pathos through personal narration and characterization, she makes some appeals to logos. She majored in English at college and began writing as a freelancer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience, (para. Use Tan's ideas about different kinds of English from "Mother Tongue" as a basis to consider the kinds of English you encounter every day. My mother had gone to the hospital for an appointment, to find out about a benign brain tumor a CAT scan had revealed a month ago. When Tan was growing up, how did her mother's use of English affect Tan's perception of her? The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. Learn. 11th Grade - Poems by Emily Dickinson: She recognizes that her mom is in fact able to comprehend complex sentences in English, but just struggles to express herself clearly in the language. Symbolism, structure, and tone are only a few literary devices you can use for your analysis, but they are the ones thatll help you get the most out of your analysis. Identify them and describe their effect. ______ to influence. -uses quotes to give an example of her mother's English Get inspiration from over 500,000 example essays. And then I said in perfect English, "Yes, I'm getting rather concerned. Log in here. Du Zong father wasn't look down on him, but didn't take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Find examples of peopleincluding Tan herselftreating her mother. Even though language is not an object you can hold, Amy Tan still uses language to symbolize different, more ambiguous concepts. What is Amy Tans primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"? Tan even says that her mother was one of her draft readers for her own book series. But Tans language, or tongue, has been shaped by her actual mother, whose first language (or mother tongue) was not English, but Chinese. I came up with the idea that the author's claim is that one's use of language does not indicate their amount of knowledge or worth, but I am not sure if I am thinking of the right answer. Print. Students in agreement might cite Tan's interpretation of analogy questions and Cisneros's poor school performance but obvious intellect that was nurtured by her family. Students' essays will probably address slang and jargon that they use, standard English that they use for most of their school experiences, and possibly formal English that they may use with relatives or in work situations. Explain. "How Poetry Comes to Me" TPCASTT // Gary Snyd, "Common Ground" TPCASTT // Judith Ortiz Cofer, SpringBoard English Language Arts: Grade 10, myPerspectives: English Language Arts, California (Grade 9, Volume 1), Glencoe Literature Course 4: The Readers Choice. -mother's language; how author feels In "Mother Tongue" why does Tan include her mother's story about the political gangster in Shanghai? spirituals. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. Stephen Crane Amy Thompson Amy Tan Anne Tan 2. 4. Even though the focus of the essay is the author's experiences with languages and her mother's influence on her writing, an underlying theme of the essay is the identity of a first-generation American. What is similar between Tan's more contemporary version of the American Dream and the novel Of Mice and Men? So you'll have some idea of what this family talk I heard sounds like, I'11 quote what my mother said during a recent conversation which I videotaped and then transcribed. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Tan, author of "Mother Tongue," explains that her mother's language had the greatest influence on her understanding of English. Near the beginning of Mother Tongue, Tan says, I am fascinated by language in daily life. What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? Chinese custom. Answers will vary but should include points similar to the following: a. Tan includes the story to give readers an example of just how her mother's English sounds and how expressive it is. The argument Tan makes is that she has become a better writer by fusing these types of language than she was when she used the acrolect alone. Like off the street kind. What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story? -understand how her mom talked and how it was hard for others to understand her It literally means one's first language. Consider the story "Mother Tongue." https://www.etsy.com/shop/TolentinoTeaching?ref=seller-platform-mcnavSubscribe to Tolentino Teaching for online teaching resources: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxVnC3TU90xGfwGGJj--dHA?view_as=subscriberHere is the software I use to make my videos: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=18708\u0026awinaffid=844903\u0026p=Where I get my background music: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/pg826v/Microphone I use: https://amzn.to/3kYpflxMy favorite books on writing:The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker: https://amzn.to/38m0FWmHow to Argue with a Cat by Jay Hendrichs: https://amzn.to/2MWQXCsThe Elements of Style Fourth Edition: https://amzn.to/2MZeentOn Writing Well by William Zinsser: https://amzn.to/30ouPnJMy Social Media LinksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tolentinoteaching/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tolentinoteaching/?eid=ARCDTu1yPrWNU95MIiqiab32h2xup6OJBVFlENV03XB6HHUOFxeS0gGlYvdIx-bKlzwzEW7N8uwtCagPTwitter: https://twitter.com/TolentinoTeach**Disclaimer: Tolentino Teaching is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and AWIN, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com and http://paidforadvertising.com/ In both cases, the perception based on her mother's "limited" English gave people the idea that Amy's mother wasn't very bright, or worse, was not worth their time. Tan, by contrast, used standard English what used to be referred to, in loaded phrases, as correct or proper English and was thus able to succeed in getting herself, and by extension her mother, taken seriously by others. 20 terms. It has always bothered me that I can think of no other 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. You should know that my mother's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. Why does Tan open her essay by stating, "I am not a scholar of English or literature" but then state, in the next paragraph, "I am a writer"? Answers will vary widely, depending on students' personal experiences, situations, and viewpoints. -better explain her mother's tongue and how others were effected (including herself) . When she began to write fiction, she made a conscious decision to write to a specific audience: she decided to write to her mother; as she was writing about relationships between mothers and daughters in her stories. 2. This establishes ethos as she admits that her specialty is in being a writer. 8, Tan)". Amy Tan, in full Amy Ruth Tan, (born February 19, 1952, Oakland, California, U.S.), American author of novels about Chinese American women and the immigrant experience. This is not to say that people of other countries do not learn English as well, but generally there is a language specific to the place where they were born: this is their mother tongue. 1. Tan. taylor_garrett36. Finally, Tan highlights the absurdity of writing a book about the relationships between mothers and daughters which her own mother could not understand. Latest answer posted March 28, 2020 at 9:26:15 PM. Mother Tongue. The McGraw Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. The difference between them not only lies in how they sound when spoken, but which one you speak can impact how others treat and perceive you. What strategies does she use to make this argument? What is the context of Mother Tongue? What strategies does she use to make this How did Tans teachers identify her when she was in high school? But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. ". 1. I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Latest answer posted March 29, 2020 at 1:00:09 PM. The difference is in the application of the phrase, which is between general and specific. c. rout But Tans interest in language, both as a cultural marker and as a way of expressing thought and personality, is also a prevailing theme of the novel. M.A. She alludes to several instances where people, even a doctor, would not take her mother seriously because of the way she spoke.
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