The English language played a huge role in Amy Tan’s life. English has shaped Tan’s perception of herself because it makes her view herself differently when talking to other people. When Tan was giving a talk to a large audience about her book, she had come to the realization that her mother had never heard her speak formal and proper English. Because of this, Tan had felt that the talk she was giving was wrong since she did not speak that type of English with her mother, “… all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother”. Additionally, English changed the way Tan viewed her relationship with others. When talking about furniture prices, Tan had observed that she used a different type of English with her husband than she does with her mother. This made her realize that the language you use with others changes with the level of intimacy you have with them. In the reading, Tan states ” It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with”.

I think that people who learn English as a second language are aware of the language that is used around them. Personally, I’ve noticed that when speaking English with friends or family I tend to speak it in a different way. For example, with my friends, I speak the “normal English” that we learn in school but with family, I speak English in a way that only they will understand. At times I am aware of the English used around me because certain people tend to talk in a sophisticated manner while sometimes I tend to talk in a more broken form of English. For Instance, at school teachers tend to speak in a professional way to their students while on the other hand when students conversate with each other they tend to speak more informally and in slang.

Language played a huge part in Amy Tan’s life. She didn’t just use one style of speaking with everyone. When it came down to school or work, she spoke clear English that everyone could understand. However, when it came down to family, she spoke “simple” English. She didn’t need to use big words or speak professionally when it came to her family. This is because she grew up using “simple” English and she understands it perfectly and so does her family. Growing up using simple English did not stop her from learning native English, but it did affect her own perception of herself and family. Her mother to be more specific. As she stated in her narrative “…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 limited the quality of what she had to say That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect.”. She thought that just because her mom didn’t speak perfect English her thoughts didn’t matter. She became aware of her language biases when she was giving a talk to a group, a talk that she said she has given many times before, but this time her mother was in the room. Because the way she speaks with her mom and the way she speaks with other people are so different, it made her more aware of her different styles of speech.

Since I also come from a non-English or semi-English speaking family, I do believe that many people who learn English as a second language or grow up in immigrant households are aware of the many different ways language is being used. The way I would use language with my friends is not the same way I would use language with my parents. Just like in Amy Tan’s case. For me, it’s not just about respect. I respect my parents. However, the way I talk with my parents is not the way I would talk at work or school. Respect is important, but so is understanding and comfort. I’ve always been aware of the ways language is being used around me because it helped me become more socially comfortable.

Growing up in a Chinese household in an American society, language played quite an integral role in Amy Tan’s life. This is evident, because she mentioned that at home the English language was used rather differently than the structure of the English language she learnt in school. As Amy herself said, “It suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother.” Because of this language deficit, Amy struggled with mastering English tests, not that she failed, but there were concepts of the language that she didn’t perceive in the way expected of her to understand. She stated,” While my English skills were never judged as poor, compared to Math, English could not be considered my strong suit.” She went on to say,”For me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience.”

Amy considered the English of her mother’s tongue to be ‘broken’ in comparison to the standard English used by English speakers. Because of this gap, along with others telling Amy that ‘she was not the greatest English speaker’, as well as her own perceptions of her English language capability, she used these bricks thrown at her to build her own castle. Amy enrolled in college as an English major and clearly excelled at it. She used her ‘limitations’ as motivation to succeed. Amy shaped her language competency by utilizing all the Englishes she grew up with as well as the ones she adopted. “Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all – all the Englishes I grew up with.” – Amy Tan

Miss Tan came to realize her language biases on a few occasions. One occurrence was upon giving a talk to a group of people, a forum in which her mother was in attendance. Amy was in front of her audience giving the speech of a lifetime using the structure of ‘perfect’ English, and on seeing her mother it dawned on her that she was using the kind of language she never uses with her mother at home. She was made aware of the vast differences there were to what some people may comprehend and what others may not. To clarify, Amy said, “The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room.” Another instance in which Amy noticed her biases, was when she found that she would become embarrassed by her mother’s use of the English language. Because of this, Amy held the notion that her mother’s thought processes of English were imperfect which didn’t allow her to express herself well enough, seeing it as a limitation. Tan herself said, “My mother’s ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her.”

Over time, Tan also noticed the bias of others towards her mother because of the way she spoke. There were times, as a teen, she would have to pretend to be her mother in order to handle a business transaction or be the one to take care of her mother’s medical appointments. Due to her mother’s lack of finesse in the arts of the English language, in different arenas of day to day life, people would often not take her seriously and had a lack of consideration for her all because they were never able to fully understand what she tried to say or explain to them which made her dependent on her daughter’s language skills.

I do believe that people who learn English as a second language are constantly aware  of the way language is used around them, given that a language barrier may often cause misunderstandings and miscommunication. It forces them to create comparisons between their native tongue and the English language along with the challenges of how, when, and where to use certain words to make a complete, coherent sentence.

I am for sure aware of how the English language is used around me. I grew up in an environment where Patois is the most commonly used lingo but English is the dominant language factor. Hence, in speech, I automatically recognize when something said or written is considered to be grammatically incorrect, although, I myself is prone to making such errors.

Language, to Amy Tan, served as a type of obstacle/challenge that she would eventually get over. Having grown up in a non-English speaking household, she states, “[M]y mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well”. Through her struggle of being in this type of household, she became more inclined to doing math and sciences, due to these subjects having only one answer compared to English where there are many “judgement calls” and answers that require “personal experience”. However, Tan would shape herself into a writer, wanting to go against the grain and becoming an English major, rather than staying enrolled in pre-med. Personally, I do not believe that many people who learn English as a second language are constantly aware of the way language is used around them as they try to use their own understanding of what they know to understand the world around them, which , often times, is limited. This is not the usual case all of the time, however, an example being my parents, both of which learned English as their second language, but they’ve lived in the U.S for a long time so they have adjusted to things. Moreover, I believe that those who are raised in non-English speaking households are capable of being aware of how language is used around because they would need to understand English and formulate it in such a way that their parents may be able to understand. However, as before, this may not be the usual case for many people living in a non-English household, as they may not fully be aware of the use of language, grasping the basics to simply understand. As for myself, I think that I am aware of how English is being used around me, having English be my first language growing up and never really taking the time to learn my family’s language, Khmer.

Tan Amy paved a road for herself in terms of language when discussing her comparisons between speaking at public events vs. at home. Throughout the reading, Amy mentioned how her speaking at home with her mother had forced her to subconsciously judge her as well. She also spoke about her acting as her mom while on the phone with people in order to  feel like they are taking her seriously. While Amy grew up and attending school, she began to refer to her mother’s form of English as “broken”. At the same time, some of her teachers had been steering her towards fields of math and science because they felt that those were her only strong suits. At the end, she mentioned how everyone has their own version of “English” and she works to implement that into her writing. I feel as though Amy made other good points as well, when mentioning the treatment of people with “broken” english. For example, when addressing a very serious medical condition with the staff at a hospital, it took Amy to step in and use “proper” English before the situation was properly approached.

I’ve personally witnessed it where customer service decreases when servicing a person using broken english. In a way, immigrant families thrive off their “broken” english in the sense it keeps them together as one. Their form of english is something only they can understand in their own households. After reading Amy’s writing, I noticed that I also am a part of the “broken” english users which goes beyond my parents and siblings but into my cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents and etc. Yet on the other hand, I can say English has been my strongest subject for as long as I could remember. Honestly, I think “broken” english helps me write better in the case I have a higher selection of words. I also feel as though I can writeBlog  an essay or story with words everyone would know without needing a dictionary. No one person should feel like they are subjected to one career because of their lack of language skills. In reality, every immigrant comes in with their own way for English to sound. This factor makes them no less human and only shows their courage for coming into a new place and learning a new language. If we were to all sound the same and use the same word structure or vocabulary, where would the “flavor” be. Every successful author can be called so because of their writing style or technique. One persons “broken English” can be another persons ability to feel like they were really present when being told a story or reading.

The role that Amy Tan played in her life was being a translator from broken English to perfect English. To be specific, Amy’s mother spoke broken English and not a lot of people understood her. However, for Amy she listen to her mother’s broken English and translate them to perfect English for others to understand the situation. For example “So you’ll have some idea of what this family  talk I heard sounds like, I’ll quote what my mother said during a recent conversation which I videotaped and then transcribed.” This means that Amy videotaped her mothers broken English which she later than translated it to perfect English for her readers to understand what her mother was actually saying. As a result, mindset that she had for the past twenty years of her life was broken English to be able to understand her mother which she then change that mindset to perfect English to tell others what her mother actually words were.

She was able to become aware of her English when she was with her mother and husband. She started to become aware of it because her mindset was the same as them but different with others. In other words, when she’s with family, she is starts to talk in broken English without even realizing it, because all this time her mindset were more focus on perfect English in order for others to understand her thoughts. For example “My husband was with us as well, and he didn’t notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It’s because over the twenty years we’ve been together I’ve often used the same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” This means that when it comes to family, her mindset is change to broken English and they don’t realize the change in her language because she is speaking like how she normally speaks in the past to present. However, when it comes to other people, her mindset changes to perfect English because they are not family so she has to change that mindset to be able to speak properly when speaking to others. As a result, when she was aware of her language changes, she wanted to write something that would relate to her and not to others where it’s easier for insiders but difficult for the outsiders to let them know that there are others that may have broken English and that’s another thing to study on if we want to help others.

I think those whose English are their second language or raised in non-English household are not aware of how their language are being used because this case is heavily similar to me. Since I was raised in a Chinese hold, I am unaware of how my accent affects my English speaking and if others are able to understand it. In my case I don’t hear how my Chinese accent affect my English, however, I have my friends and peers telling me that whenever I talk, I have the accent whenever speaking and I don’t believe it. So now, I am questioning in what ways does my accent affect how I speak? In addition, I have my parents talk in broken English where sometimes I understand them and sometimes I don’t. There were times when my mindset changes to have broken English were I can understand my parents, but hard for my friends to understand.Then there are times when I my mindset change to perfect English where my friends were able to understand me but when it comes to my parents it’s hard to understand them and it’s hard for them to understand me. This impact me I would also be the translator similarly to Amy Tan, where I had to translate my parents broken English to perfect English and vise versa. There are times when I am unaware of my English talk and their are times I am. Sometimes, when my friends don’t understand what I am saying, that’s when I am unaware of what I am saying. On other hand, whenever I am writing something my mindset change to be able to change that writing into perfect English since I read what I have just wrote and become aware that my grammar is not right. In other words, when I speak I am unaware of my English but when I write, I become aware of my English.