mother tongue amy tan quizlet

One time it was a call to her stockbroker in New York. Her mother attends a lecture that Tan is delivering, and Tan realizes that her mother is hearing Tan speak a kind of English that she does not use at home. 4 0 obj And all of the ethnic and regional accents in between. Mother Tongue by Amy Tan: Audio with Whiteboard Animations indiiigo. 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. After youve written your literary analysis, and you dont feel very confident in it, pass it along to one of the Kibin editors. Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, is a collection of related stories told by four mothers and four daughters and was later turned into a film. State your opinion in an essay, and support it with evidence from at least two of the essays. /ca 1.0 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. -uses quotes to give an example of her mother's English 18, Tan)". -talking to her mom "My mother was in the room", Tan quotes a "terrible line" she once wrote "That was my mental quandary in its nascent state." We used a similar routine just five days ago, for a situation that was far less humorous. Award-winning novelist, short story writer, and essayist. 3) Tan describes in this essay? Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. -better explain her mother's tongue and how others were effected (including herself) JFIF K K C An overarching theme of Tans novel is mothers emigrating to America in the hope that their daughters will have better lives than they did. Because she was in a family where their home language wasn't English, her scores in English weren't as good as the ones she received in math. 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. Find and create gamified quizzes, lessons, presentations, and flashcards for students, employees, and everyone else. What is the difference? And then I said in perfect English, "Yes, I'm getting rather concerned. possibilities" for people in the United States today? Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Analysis - Free Essay Example - StudyDriver.com But many people who hear her mother speak can only partially understand what she is saying, and some even say they can understand nothing of what she says, as if she were speaking pure Chinese to them. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. More recent to this story, her mother had been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, but when she went to the doctor's office, the CAT scan was lost and no one was remotely concerned with her need to understand her prognosishaving lost a husband and son, both to brain tumors. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine's books with easeall kinds of things I can't begin to understand. Chapter 8 and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level C, David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith. Eden Meirow is a full-time copywriter and part-time freelance writer. Here, Tan alludes to the concept of the "mother tongue": a child's earliest language, often used with a primary caregiver, who in many instances is the mother. Just because there are several tones throughout Mother Tongue doesnt mean that there isnt one overarching tone. Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as, "Even though Tom was, Mary thought he was --. Envisioning her mother as the reader allowed Tan to write with more fluidity. mother tongue amy tan chinese american writer amy tan, whose mom moved from her homeland china to america to make better life for her daughter, struggles with 3-2 Writing Plan 5-3 Feedback and Tan talks about growing up with different forms of English and how that affected both her childhood and adult life. Some visitors on a search for new healing substances (looks, look) at medicinal plants. /Producer ( Q t 4 . Spend some time evaluating the essays structure, and analyze whether it is right for Mother Tongue. Would it have been better as a novel or a poem, or is a short narrative the way to go? Her mom, who speaks "limited" English, needs Tan to be her "translator" in order to communicate with the native English speakers. The phrase "mother tongue" refers to the language people learn to speak first. Tan grew up speaking the formal acrolect of English she learned at school and the more vivid, less correct variety her mother used. Like other children of immigrants to America, the perceptions of her language abilities almost limited her career path in math or science, yet Tan eventually realized her own American Dream of becoming a full-time writer. -the piece is about how Amy's mom speaks (original language); Amy's mother had a different language then her own. 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. It is evident that Tan wants to avoid stereotyping in her essay. In dividing the essay into sections, she is able to flow through to her points clearly and subtly. She says even her husband started speaking this kind of English together and that it has come to represent intimacy. -wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal "her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts." Writer discussed: Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" (Link to story) Amy Tan is speaking of writing her book "Joy Luck Club" (there's a scene below), so in that sense it works as a good example of a literacy narrative in that Tan writes about writing something. Tan was born in Oakland, California, two and a half years after her parents fled China's Communist revolution and settled in the United States. Why does Tan believe that envisioning a reader specifically, her mother enabled her to write more authentically? What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? How would you describe Tan's attitude toward her mother? Tan elaborates this idea by scrutinizing her mother's language, her own use of English and society's response to different people's English usage. Why? 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. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan uses people's inclination to assume as a way of exploring the subject of identity. Log in here. She said they would not give her any more information until the next time and she would have to make another appointment for that. I knew what the tests were asking, but I could not block out of my mind the images already created by the first pair, "sunset is to nightfall"--and I would see a burst of colors against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the lowering of a curtain of stars.And all the other pairs of words --red, bus, stoplight, boring--just threw up a mass of confusing images, making it impossible for me to sort out something as logical as saying: "A sunset precedes nightfall" is the same as "a chill precedes a fever." Edit. 3. Later, the gangster became more powerful, far richer than my mother's family, and one day showed up at my mother's wedding to pay his respects. What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? Mother Tongue by Amy Tan - Essay Summary, Analysis, Review 742 views May 19, 2022 25 Dislike The CodeX Cantina 17.6K subscribers Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get. Then evaluate her message. Tan doesn't concern herself with the fundamentals of language, she explains that her job isn't to learn and explore language, but to apply it. Tan was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California. -influenced Amy's writing (four Englishes) Explain why Tan calls herself a rebel in "Mother Tongue" and how this identity led to her becoming a writer. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. 62-67. What assumptions are people making about Tan's mother in these situations and why? How does Tan avoid stereotyping Asian Americans in general and Chinese in particular in this essay? Amy Tan "Mother Tongue" Flashcards | Quizlet Consider the story "Mother Tongue." eNotes Editorial, 28 June 2020, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-argument-is-tan-making-here-about-language-2353688. 6 0 obj 6) rather than paraphrasing what she said? Sample answer: Communication is more about intent than specific words and word usage. Tan believed that her mother's English reflected the quality of what she had to say-that the imperfections in her speech meant that her ideas were just as imperfect. Tan divides the essay into three sections. Tan calls this a language of intimacy. But it does have a loose progression. Now all you have to do is analyze them. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. Although Tan clearly appeals to pathos through personal narration and characterization, she makes some appeals to logos. She struggled with tests which asked students to pick a correct word to fill in the blanks in a sentence because she was distracted by the imaginative and poetic possibilities of other words. -she uses four types of English (the English she grew up with) Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Its not about how long a story is, but rather about its content. What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? In a country where English is the dominant language, all of the school lessons are taught in it. Discuss how this is present in her writing of "Mother Tongue. 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. I selected the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. 2. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. What is the context of Mother Tongue? In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. three subjects nNSm`NO8 SL6x 9 tG%rzo=>ca3`!VW19>:HmoM!>? _E nYKyrO [%eLm ii+;t9xt;md/C?dSh[`N:)$9HAJI%i2. Review terms and definitions. Latest answer posted March 28, 2020 at 9:26:15 PM. While my English skills were never judged as poor, compared to math, English could not be considered my strong suit. But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. Latest answer posted October 28, 2019 at 10:43:03 PM, Latest answer posted November 08, 2020 at 3:49:32 AM. Illustrate your observations with examples from Tan's essay, your own experience, or others you know. ", how did amy describe her mother's english, math and science (precise and exact answers). In fact, Tan uses the same tone in the beginning and end of her storythe reader starts at a homebase, sees the journey Tan is leading them on, and returns right back to where they started but with more insight than before. Who is the intended audience for "Mother Tongue"? And how they tend to excel in mathematics and science due to language barriers. She says it provides imagery and emotions that standard, grammatically-correct English cannot. This text is a great starting point for discussions on culture, language and more. Cell Bio Exam 1. 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. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. But where Tan really gets to something deep, is this idea how we acquire language. endobj Tan uses an example of her mother going to New York to yell at her stockbroker, after not receiving her check from cashing out her portfolio, to show us that even though her language skills were sub par, she could still very effectively communicate her feelings and ideas. A good literary analysis might explain these transitions, and how they affect the structure of the piece. Mother Tongue. The McGraw Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. c. The story helps readers understand one of Tan's points: her mother's English does have intent, passion, imagery, and rhythm, and it shows the complexity of her thoughts. Unlike most of the other literature youve read for class, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan is short and pretty easy to breeze through. Tan grew up in Northern California, but when her father and older brother both died from brain tumors in 1966, she moved with her. If raised in Italy, it is Italian; in France, it is French. endobj Along with her BS in marketing from Florida State University and MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, she has spent the past 7 years learning how best to reach and teach people using the power of words. What are the "different Englishes" (para. Mother Tongue (by Amy Tan) Flashcards | Quizlet Tan does illustrate each category she identifies 4. "Mother tongue," as it is used in the title of this piece, is a pun on the traditional idea. One time Amy did this with her mother's stockbroker. Mother Tongue by Amy Tan questions & answers for quizzes and worksheets - Quizizz Find and create gamified quizzes, lessons, presentations, and flashcards for students, employees, and everyone else. 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. Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. In "Mother Tongue," do you think that Tan and her mother have a close relationship? According to Tan, why are so many Asian Americans encouraged to study math and science in college? (para. 3 0 obj eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. When Amy first decided she wanted to be a writer, she was not encouraged to do so: English was her second language, and the peculiarities of the language (which confuse native English speakers, such as analogies) often confused her. c. Her mother relies on and trusts Tan to talk to the doctors about the CAT scan. 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. Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a person's developing language skills are more influenced by peers. So mad he lie to me, losing me money. /Title ( M o t h e r t o n g u e q u i z l e t a n s w e r s) b. Tan, her husband, and her mother go out together. Her mother attends her lectures. /Height 155 Still, she said, the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing. "And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts, for example, "Even though Tom was shy, Mary thought he was charming:' with the grammatical structure "even though" limiting the correct answer to some sort of semantic opposites, so you wouldn't get answers like, "Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous:' Well, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary might have thought of him. Get inspiration from over 500,000 example essays. It's my mother tongue. It is their "language of intimacy," even though he is a native English speaker. Amy Tan begins her essay by offering her personal opinions on the English language. When Amy gave this talk to an audience that included her mother, it caused her to reflect on the distance between the language that she uses in the world of her career and the language that she grew up with at home and still uses with her husband in the present day. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. She wouldn't budge. A person's "mother tongue" is usually considered to be their first language, but in this story, it refers to her "mother's tongue," or the version of English that her mother speaks. This progression is typical of many stories, both long and short, but in this case you can apply it to tone as well. Explain. What motivates her to make such an argument? Why? /SA true 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. A scholar would push to discover and learn about their particular subject, while the writer is to take their findings and put them into practice. 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. While it may be difficult for some people to understand it, it is part of who she is, and it does not reflect negatively on her mother because it is "different." eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Cite the text as needed to clarify and support your response. When she's not working, she's constantly trying to expand her creativity through music, writing, art, and animation. Even though language is not an object you can hold, Amy Tan still uses language to symbolize different, more ambiguous concepts. The difference is in the application of the phrase, which is between general and specific. What would be the impact of omitting one of them? Here is the text: http://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/Mother%20Tongue%20by%20Tan.pdfSupport me by buying mugs, t-shirts, notebooks and more! What are some good things Andrew Carnegie did? her mother How does the author describe her mother's English early in the essay limited She recounts a time when the doctors at the hospital were unsympathetic towards her mother when they lost the results of the CAT scan they had undertaken on her brain, but as soon as the hospital at her mothers insistence called her daughter, they issued a grovelling apology. 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. Chinese age I was nineteen. You can read Mother Tongue here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Amy Tans essay below. Answer: to inform readers based on Tan's childhood experience Explanation: Amy tan is a Chinese-American writer, she is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and her books reflect a lot on what she has experienced witnessing the culture clash between Chinese and North American cultures. 22 terms. 8. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants, Daisy and John Tan. Discuss how Tan broadens the essay's relevance by going beyond just her personal experience and raising issues that would be germane to her audience. Why or why not? Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. Amy Tan's Messages in "Mother Tongue" Short Summary - GraduateWay How do they differ? Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. Language is a powerful tool, and our ability to use and understand it as humans is one of the main aspects that separate us from other species on Earth. How is Amy Tan's use of the phrase "mother tongue" ambiguous? Tan, author of "Mother Tongue," explains that her mother's language had the greatest influence on her understanding of English. "The S, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses. Explain the meaning of Tans title and how it relates to her own identity as both a Chinese American, a daughter, and a writer. It's my mother tongue. "In Amy Tan's short story "Mother Tongue," explain the essence of what "mother tongue" signifies in the story." In "Mother Tongue" why does Tan include her mother's story about the political gangster in Shanghai? To what extent do you think that speaking a non- standardized English (through grammatical differences or an accent) "limits . 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. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. What strategies does she use to make this How did Tans teachers identify her when she was in high school? Her mother, too, was clearly aware of how her use of the language affected how seriously people took her, for she used to get her daughter to phone people and pretend to be Mrs Tan. Print. Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. C q" tests, and the SAT. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. ". 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, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. Psst 98% of Kibin users report better grades! As a writer, she used the rigid, grammatical acrolect she had learned at school; as a daughter, she used the more forceful, vivid English spoken by her mother, for which she cannot even find a name, since she dislikes calling it "broken.". Chinese way, came only to show respect, don't stay for dinner. For example, people with European accents may be perceived as "snooty" or "uptight", while those who speak in AAVE (African American Vernacular English) can be seen as "ghetto" or "thuggish". When writing about becoming an English major in college, Tan said that she had always been rebellious. Mother Tongue is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. How did railroads help boost industrialization? I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others. Works have been adapted for film, opera, and TV mother tongue first language Whom does the author focus on in this narrative? 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This establishes ethos as she admits that her specialty is in being a writer. 17) that Tan claims accounts for her high performance on math tests but not on English tests specifically, analogies? In grade school I did moderately well, getting perhaps B's, sometimes B-pluses, in English and scoring perhaps in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile onachievement tests. The different forms of English that mother and daughter speak are also a product of their backgrounds: whilst Tans mother is a Chinese immigrant to America, Tan was born in the United States and has grown up, and been educated, in an English-speaking culture. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? She mentions the figure that most Asian students in schools are not enrolled in artistic courses, such as creative writing. The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. a. fragment So I never did well on tests like that. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. How does each have its own type of power? -other peoples reactions; how it affected Amy (would make calls for her mom) Why? You should know that my mother's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. -speech-like; "I was giving a talk to a large group of people." Every piece of literature, whether its an epic novel or a haiku, has some sort of structurewhich is simply the organization of the material. And my mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, "Why he don't send me check, already two weeks late. Already a member? Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan's mother was treated unfairly because of her "broken English". The only way I would have gotten that answer right would have been to imagine an associative situation, for example, my being disobedient and staying out past sunset, catching a chill at night, which turns into feverish pneumonia as punishment, which indeed did happen to me. . Her mother's language is colorful, powerful, and direct. What is Amy Tans primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"? << Tan seems to love and respect her mother despite her language boundaries. This is the sociological aspect of language. This text is a great starting point for discussions on culture, language and more. Where "mother tongue" usually refers euphemistically to someone's first language, here it refers. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of languagethe way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.. 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. Why does she divide the essay into three parts? Each story holds a key to understanding her main argument points. If all the words in a numbered word group are correct, write C above it. Tan acknowledges that, whilst she did well in maths and science, subjects with a single correct answer, she was less adept at English. /Length 7 0 R Tans autobiographical revelations in Mother Tongue show us that her own mother struggled to be taken seriously among Americans, and Tan diagnoses this struggle as a result of her mothers different way of speaking. 1. Though Mother Tongue is a very short narrative, its rich in content. This is a key part of Feathers from a Thousand Li Away, and it helps us to understand Tans conflicted attitude towards her mothers use of language as explored in Mother Tongue. Much of Tans 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club is about daughters and their relationships with their mothers. It is the simple difference between theory and practice. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. -Informal - conversational; "So you'll have some idea.." How do you think Kemal Ataturk would have responded to later Islamic modernists such as Sheikh Kabir and perhaps Saira Khan? 1. Accessed 2 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. spirituals. Near the beginning of Mother Tongue, Tan says, I am fascinated by language in daily life. Answers will vary widely, depending on students' personal experiences, situations, and viewpoints. Tan wrote 'Mother Tongue' in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. Eliasib. Describe what the fighting is like and what you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of your army. Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" discusses the way that language changes, and the ways it stays the same, inside contexts of immigration and generational time. Du Zong father wasn't look down on him, but didn't take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia.

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