Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on english as a second language
Essay on english as a second language
English as a language
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on english as a second language
I sit in solemn silence, wondering if I should even bother with this essay. I am not the ideal Vietnamese child; I am nothing special.Since I was born, English has been my primary language. It is the language I think in, the only language I can express my true emotions. I am an American-born Vietnamese child, proud of my heritage, yet forever attempting to grasp it. I merely know this: my morals and values, instilled in me by Vietnamese tradition make me who I am today. That is why I write, not to win, but to express my pride in my Vietnamese roots. I am Vietnamese. Sometimes, it is hard for me to believe. My grasp of the language is childish at best, and at times, I feel inadequate.
It is something that I am ashamed of, yet something I hope to rectify in the future. But I know I am Vietnamese. The ability to overcome hardship, to face fear and succeed is in my blood. As our people have always found light in every bad situation, I was raised to do the same. My ability to speak and write may not be up to par with other Vietnamese children but my heart and spirit will forever be 100% Vietnamese. My parents are the best. They have never ceased to amaze me. I grew up in Allen Parkway, alongside hundreds of other Vietnamese families.
My parents worked long hours at their jobs to try and provide for my sisters and me. My mother is a seamstress, working 60-hour weeks. My father is a fisherman. He is gone for a weeks at a time, doing hard physical labor.
Whenever I look into his eyes, I begin to cry. I see a man that could have been so much more. He was among the top students in his class. His teachers told him he was destined for greater things. Yet there he stands, in front of my own eyes, a waste of a man. We never had the father and son relationship I have always craved, but my love for him and my mother transcends comprehension. I wish I could say that I had a great upbringing, but I can't. My parents tried their best, but they were hardly ever around. My sisters and I raised ourselves.
Among the three of us, the cooking, cleaning and household chores were divided.
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.
In this article, Eric Liu presents his life as a native immigrant to an Asian American individual. He shares his experience through his reflection of ideas and emotions. Along with his story, it relates to the ideas of people’s journey from adolescence to adulthood. Eric’s inspirational experience is directed towards minority groups who try to adapt to the American culture and lifestyle. His parents emigrated from China to America, before he was born which he later became exposed to the freedom and diverse society. This results in beneficial effects for his individuality, career opportunities, and lifestyle. Although his parents have lived in a different culture than him, his life in America has made him assimilated into the American society
Eventually, the store had to close down. The Anticommunist movement is extreme to the point that anyone who even appeared to be sympathetic to the current government of Vietnam was branded a traitor. For instance, the community claimed that one of the Vietnamese American politicians, Tony Lam, did not support the community in forcing this video store to close down. In addition, Tony Lam took part in requesting the council of the city of Westminster to change the name Little Saigon into Asian town (Collet, & Furuya, 2010). His rationale was that “Little Saigon” negatively reminded of the pain in Vietnamese history, which needed to be forgotten. His political career soon ended, since his attitude and belief was viewed as an offense toward Vietnamese immigrants. Vietnamese immigrants believe that the term Saigon is sacred and beloved, therefore replacing the name Little Saigon is equivalent to neglecting the dramatic historical background and disconnecting their origin. In away, Anticommunist movement creates cohesion among Vietnamese immigrant.
While these essays are similar because they focus on the native languages used in America and the struggles of being a Chinese American in America, they differ in both their attitudes toward their mothers and personal reflections of being Chinese American. An individual’s background is where one comes from and how he or she was raised. Tan is a Chinese American. She has a traditional Chinese mother who speaks “broken” English. Tan states that, “It has 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[. . . ]”
My private Vietnam is a never-ending identity conflict. Part of me is American, part of me is Vietnamese. I have Asian features, but I'm tall and broad-shouldered. I don't feel accepted in either culture.
Before you begin reading the main narrative of my essay, I want to let you in on some details about my life and myself. I was born in Manhattan, New York and when I was about twenty two days old, I boarded a plane with my parents on a journey across the United States to the city of San Francisco, then to the town of Grass Valley. This is where my grandmother and grandfather resided. They had been telling my parents that the city of Manhattan was no place to raise a child and that we should move to California and live with them. Before making this life changing decision of leaving most of their friends and loved ones in New York to come to California, my parents sent me off to live in India with my uncle. Keep in mind, I was about the age of two when this all happened. The opportunity of leaving me with my uncle gave my parents about a year to think things over and pull themselves together, in efforts to properly raise a child in a country that was so
In this paper I will be sharing information I had gathered involving two students that were interviewed regarding education and their racial status of being an Asian-American. I will examine these subjects’ experiences as an Asian-American through the education they had experienced throughout their entire lives. I will also be relating and analyzing their experiences through the various concepts we had learned and discussed in class so far. Both of these individuals have experiences regarding their education that have similarities and differences.
The United States and its people take great pride in knowing that the U.S. is the greatest nation in the world. That is why it’s our duty to father the rest of the world when conflicts arise. American culture and ideals are also thought to take precedents over all other cultures and ideals. In the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down, written by Anne Fadiman, there are many great examples of how American culture is imposed on the people residing with in its enclosed boundaries. The U.S. going to war in Vietnam is also a great example of how the U.S. tried to impose American values on the “less fortunate.” Through understanding America’s so called “duty” in Vietnam one can interpret the intervention of American idealism in the life of a Hmong family.
The refusing to speak Vietnamese because he wanted to speak English was his way of expressing who he was. Andrew acknowledges that his life is very different because he has rebelled and explored new things. His mother is doing the same thing every morning because in her world, she lights the incense and prays to the ancestors because this is how she identifies. Andrew on the other hand would rather travel the world, write, and do public speaking to him, that’s who he is. He isn’t the little boy who would climb up the chair to light the incense
Aimee Phan’s book We Should Never Meet, follows the lives of four Amerasian children brought to the US because of the Vietnam War. The book highlights their struggles, achievements, and efforts to become in touch with their Vietnamese background. The book goes shifts from present to past and allows the audience to experience every side of the struggle. From a mother’s point of view, a nun’s point of view, even an adoption helper’s point of view. Kim, Mai, Huan and Vinh all faced everyday struggles of being biracial in the United States. They also struggled eternally with the unknown of their placements in life and how fair or unfair life had done them. Huan and Vinh came to America in different ways but they had one thing in common, the struggle
In “Mother Tongue”, Tan writes about the awareness and discrimination about her broken English compared to Standard English. In Tan's essay she quotes her mother’s speech to demonstrate her mother's “Broken English”. Amy tan said “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands”(467). In other words, her mother had better command in English, and this was not shown in her story. The use of anecdotes and pathos, in Amy Tan’s story, Mother Tongue Narrates the discrimination of the Chinese immigrants, this prejudice takes place in the northern part of America caused by the immigrants accent. Tan figures out one must remain true to oneself in order to break the cultural barriers.
I was raised by my mother and grandmother. They kept my head leveled and taught me that working hard leads to success. I loved them, and they were my role models. I grew up in a middle class family with strong women. I learned independence, and the strong will to never give up. It was the summer of 2005 when my mother re-married, and I was in the eighth grade. My mother was happy because she found the conclusion to her life: a husband. I was ecstatic because I finally had a daddy! My hopes, wishes, and dreams had come true. I felt that God answered my prayers. I loved having a father figure, although I had certain doubts. My uncertainty came from the way he looked at me. He looked at me the way men crave women. However, I concealed my unclear feelings because I did not want to ruin the current circumstances. Unfortunately, all of my suspicions were true.
There are many themes that can be seen in this story, including, filial love, the quest for identity/coming of age, conformity versus rebellion, and the American dream/nightmare. Although all of these themes can be seen in this story, I have decided to write mainly about conformity versus rebellion and the quest for identity/coming of age. The conformity versus rebellion theme is easily seen in this story. Lam’s family came to the United States from Vietnam. While his mom still participates in all of the traditional Vietnamese rituals her son decides not to.
Growing up I came from a family of two sisters and a brother. My parents worked hard to be sure that there was always a roof over our head, food on the table, and clothes on our back. My worked for various companies until he was able to obtain his degree as an electrical technician. Today he maintains his own business known as McGhee Electric. My mother also took on various jobs to make ends meet. She began work as a cosmetologist and slowly climbed her way to the top. After rigorous schooling and training, she is now Licensed Practical Nurse.
Nevertheless, contrary to his thinking, my decision was going to stay in the US although I had many problems in finance and language, and I’ve never regretted about my choice. My life now is the best evidence to prove that I was not wrong in my thinking. For example: I could find a good job to certainly of my benefit such as payment rent, or car. Also, I could save my time at school to improve knowledge and breaking down language barriers. Nobody denies, accomplishment now is the result of the process of striving after 4 years in the US, but I do not ever denied the help of my uncle because they give to me a new life in new country. My mom said, “The children must be grateful to those who helped them. Especially, if somebody makes you sad, then write it down on sand, and if they save your live, you must write it down on stone”. Because the words on sand could have disappear, but on the stone still exit that means people must remember the help from other that also the traditional spirit of the Vietnamese