Blog #2

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.

Comments ( 3 )

  1. Joelle McKenzie
    I agree that we are most aware of how we express ourselves in English when we have to do a written piece because the reality is, on a daily basis we tend to communicate by using slangs or informal forms of speech that we are most comfortable with.
  2. Rohit Lal
    I feel the same way when it comes to switching between different mindsets in order to understand broken English. It can sometimes have an effect on other people around you who are not accustomed to the way that you may speak so you have a tendency to switch back and forth.
  3. Cordelia Vohnout
    Hi Calvin, I thought it was interesting that you said you become more aware of your grammar when you write. It's interesting that we can become totally different speakers when we write our thoughts and opinions, versus speaking them out loud.

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