Mother Tongue

Hello!

Personally, I don't usually read essays for fun. In fact I was assigned to read Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue"for homework. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this piece and it presented me with a new style of writing. Usually when I write essays, they're analytic or descriptive or a comparative but always academic. What I found extraordinary with Tan's essay was how effectively she used her language and experiences to convey the message of the purpose of language. In fact, she states first that "I'm not a scholar of English or literature...I am a writer".She describes her own memories so vividly that it's like we are there with her. The piece is practically oozing with emotion in a way that enables us to understand her.

Before reading this essay, I rarely thought about language. It was part of my daily life and I never stopped to think about it. It seems like this was one of many things that zoom past us in life. Now, I find myself thinking what is that I am speaking, who am I speaking to, do I change how I speak? and so many more. Tan's piece has made me take a step back and gain a more introspective look at language. To me, Tan's piece conveys the purpose of language: to convey oneself.

One issue that stood out to me was the stereotypes of non-native English speakers that our society has seem to have adopted. Tan points out the "narrow-minded attitude toward people of different culture and language backgrounds." Immediately, we can see that her mother played a key role in her life. She gives us many detailed experiences where her mother was treated differently because of her English. One case that really bothered me was when her mother went to the hospital to receive her CAT scan to check her brain tumor and they claimed they had lost it and gave no apology whatsoever. "She said they did not seem to have any sympathy when she told them she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis, since her husband and son had both died of brain tumors." However, when her daughter comes in and talks to them with perfect English, they immediately apologize and promise a conference call. In our society, doctors are held with high respect and are known as 'heroes and saints'. To see a doctor judge a patient's significance with her language is concerning.

Of course, everyone has done this at least once even if we didn't know it. We're brought up in a society where we believe that language reflects intelligence and significance. Similar to Tan, I had my own experiences with this. My mother''s Indian accent and her limited knowledge of English had put us in many similar situations. Once, when we went to an embassy to apply for a visa, the man working declined her even with all the right documents. I was furious and enraged to think that he could talk like this to my mother. I stepped in and asked to see his manager. After my own 10 minute confrontation, we received an apology and the visa. I could personally  relate with Tan.

Tan does not like to refer to her mother's English as 'broken' or 'limited' because she can understand her perfectly. "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." By beginning to understand the importance of her English from her home, a product of her culture - her 'language of intimacy'- she found her writer's voice. I think what Tan wants us to see is that there is beauty, passion and most importantly meaning in the way her mother talks even if we don't see it.