Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired. As Rodriguez is looking back at the rise of his “public identity”, he realizes that “the loss implies the gain” (Rodriguez 35). He believes that losing a part of who you (such as your “mother tongue” is permitted since …show more content…
Rodriguez “would dishonor [] intimacy by holding onto a particular language and calling it [] family language” (Rodriguez 41). Just as Rodriguez realized the importance of “public identity” over time, he realized that intimacy is not felt and remembered with a bunch of words, but instead with feelings, memories, and the times spent together. Rodriguez recalled a few days prior to the death of his grandmother. He states that within all the conversations they had, he can simply only say what she had said to him. However, he argues that the intimacy was not simply between what she had said but the way she said it. It was the voice, the scents, the noises that was reminiscing along with her memories. Rodriguez emphasizes that it’s not about what you say that makes you have “intimate” relationships; instead it’s the people that are involved in making those relationships strong and …show more content…
Coping with two different sides of you can be challenging especially in American society. By being bilingual you always have a small character inside of you telling you what to do and how to react. As being an immigrant myself, I agree on the importance of public language. Human beings have a natural instinct to be happy in socially involved activities. To communicate with your peers and have a mutual understanding is a great blessing. However, that doesn’t mean you disregard the importance of your own mother tongue that made you who you are and gave you a unique identity. Using myself as an example, I speak a tribal language that is full of rich culture and identity, signifying the story and history of our people. My father prefers my siblings and I do not speak any English at home and only speak Pashto. I try to go by his sayings because I believe that by living in a western society and going to English speaking schools, I will gradually assimilate into their community and will be able to communicate without difficulty. Contrary, by not speaking Pashto at home and with family, I will not only lose my language, but my intimacy to my unique culture and heritage. Therefore, I believe that you can use your mother language and public language together to only enhance your confidence in both
In his essay, Rodriguez, a Mexican, reasons that when he is learning the new language, English, he faces the difficulty to balance his own native customs with the new culture he’s absorbing, causing him to slowly forget his own Mexican traditions. Since Rodriguez and his family now live in the United States, he decided that he should
In addition, both essays reflect how the language they spoke intertwines with their identity and how it sometimes has an impact on the way they interact with society. The effect of the language on their identity is demonstrated through what the authors may call their “different languages.” Although Tan uses more of a personal narrative style than Anzaldua, Anzaldua uses definitions and quotes to demonstrate how her identity was influenced as well. Anzaldua mentions the examples of the different languages by describing “Home tongues”, “Chicano Spanish”, “Chicano Texas Spanish”, “Pachuco” and many others. She uses personal narrative to describe the “Home Tongue” by stating it was the language she spoke with her sisters and brothers.
He also talks about if his teachers did not push him to speak English he would not have learned the language as easy. He states, “ I would have felt much less afraid. I would have delayed- for long postponed?- having to learn the language of public society” (Rodriguez 4). His teachers forced him to learn the public language, but that also encouraged his family to learn too. Now knowing the public language, they speak it more fluently and regularly. Rodriguez vocalizes “ Most of all I needed to hear my mother and father speak to me in a moment of seriousness in broken-suddenly heartbreaking- English” (Rodriguez 6). He also states “ But I had no place to escape to with Spanish” (Rodriguez 22). Rodriguez feels his family no longer carries a connection with their private language and he no longer has a safe place to speak Spanish. Because Rodriguez realises this he states “No longer so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and the troubling knowledge of our public separateness” (Rodriguez 8). Since his family invited the public language in they have let their private language out. His family no longer has this feeling of
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
the personal relationship, but instead the more social language that had the purpose of simple
In the essay “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan, the author, gives a different, a more upbeat outlook on the various forms of English that immigrants speak as they adapt to the American culture. Using simple language to develop her argument, she casually communicates to the audience rather than informing which helps the audience understand what is being presented at ease. Her mother plays an important role in her outlook of language, because she helps her realize that language not only allows one to be a part of a culture but create one’s identity in society. Amy Tan shares her real life stories about cultural racism and the struggle to survive in America as an immigrant without showing any emotions, which is a wonderful epiphany for the audience in realizing
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
Rodriguez’s essay had a big impact in my personal life because I could assimilate certain situations described in the essay to my own life. I grew up in Brazil, and now I am living in the United States. I was able to approximate some of my personal experience to certain cultural challenges described by Rodriguez. What surprised me the most is the surprisingly, and ingenious thought that I could be the only person that has gone through internal conflicts between the culture I was forced to learn and the culture I choose to learn and adapt. Consequently, I am not the only that thought to be the only one as Rodriguez states, “. . . Then one day, leafing through Richard Hoggart’s The Uses of Literacy, I found, in his description of the scholarship
In the article, “Public and Private Language”, Richard Rodriguez argues that bilingual education delays learning a “public language” and developing a public identity”. I can relate to Richard’s story because my family and me moved to America when I was young and we also had the same struggle learning a new language. I agreed with Rodriguez when he expressed that he didn’t feel like a true American until he mastered the English language because English is the first and main language in America.
Many people immigrate to the United States from different countries to begin a better life. Once in the American territory, the first step for success is to learn the English language. Richard Rodriguez, the writer of "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" describes the language decisions he faced as a child: "Outside the house was public society; inside the house was private" (16). The English language is the primary language in the United States, and it must be learned to be able to communicate with the public world. The language that we speak at home is considered to be private because it is only used in the presence of the people we feel comfortable with, our family. Families immigrate to the United States from Mexico to find and give their children a better opportunity to succeed. The children of immigrants who have been raised or born in the United States were able to adapt much faster to the English language. The Spanish language, in the case of Mexicans, is part of our origin that most of us inherit from our ancestors although in the United States many, including me, seem to add a new language, which gives us better opportunities.
In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...
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. 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. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.
...xpressing her Chinese culture. Mastering a second language allows her to articulate her and her mother’s thoughts; it is a foundation for her pride and a foundation to express herself. For Gloria Anzaldua, instead of choosing one language over the other, she chose a mix of the two and fights for it. She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.
If you are not fluent in a language, you probably don 't give much thought to your ability to make your personality attractive, to be in touch with the people and be understood in your world, that doesn’t mean you are an underestimated person. Every person has something special to make them more unique, remarkable, and gorgeous between people. The opinions could lead towards success, or those opinions could be one that is losing, and have a negative impact on how people connect with you. In Amy Tan 's “Mother Tongue” she made this book for several reasons. She had started her life by learning language, and she always loved to spend her time to learn language, but this story focuses about Amy Tan 's mother with her terrible English,
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.