The Language of English can be interpreted in many different ways by all types of people, what is understood by someone as perfect English for the next person can be simple or watered down. This is portrayed in “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan , as she illustrates to the audience how from her perspective her moms English was Perfect but to others it was “Broken” or “Water Downed” to the public’s perception.  The role that language played in Amy Tans life helped her mature and deal with things you wouldn’t regularly see a kid handling with due to her moms lack of English. Having to deal with instances such as, “When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. In this guise”.  Amy’s Mom had Amy talking over the phone to her stock broker in New York, Amy would have her mom telling her things like “Why he dont send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.” Amy would hear her mother say these things and translate over the phone, “Yes, im getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived”. This shaped Amy’s perception by not understanding the value of what her mother had to say earlier in life saying, “My mother’s ‘Limited’ English limited my perception of her.” Amy thought that because her mother expressed herself imperfectly that her thoughts were imperfect, which wasn’t the case. Amy became aware of her own language biases late in life when she realized,  that when she described the English as broken and limited it was being described as something that needed to be fixed, and the person behind the speech was limited as a person.

I believe people who have English as their second language are constantly aware of the language being used around them due to it being a secondary language. If they were to hear there native language they wouldn’t think to much about it depending on their Environment, but naturally when they hear English their brain will tell the difference and make them aware. I am always aware of the English around me because i am always code switching depending on the environment im in, in order to adapt. If I walk into a professional Environment I would talk use a more correct and socially accepted English, and in contrary if im in my social environment i would use a more broken down English.

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