simple speech on mother tongue

A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan’s ‘Mother Tongue’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Mother Tongue’ is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. Tan wrote ‘Mother Tongue’ in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. In the essay, Tan discusses her relationship with language, and how her mother’s influence has shaped her use of English, as well as her attitude to it.

You can read ‘Mother Tongue’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Amy Tan’s essay below.

‘Mother Tongue’: summary

Amy Tan begins her essay by offering her personal opinions on the English language. She recalls a recent talk she gave, when, upon realising her mother was in the audience, she was confronted with the fact that the formal standard English she was using in the public talk was at odds with the way she spoke at home with her mother. She then contrasts this with a moment when she was walking down the street with her mother and she used the more clipped, informal English she naturally uses with her mother, and her husband.

Tan calls this a ‘language of intimacy’. She points out that her mother is intelligent and reads things which Tan herself cannot begin to understand. 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.

Tan calls this clipped informal language her ‘mother tongue’, because it was the first language she learned and it helped to shape the way she saw the world and made sense of it.

Tan notes the difficulty of finding a term to describe the style of English her mother, as a Chinese immigrant to the United States, speaks. Many of the terms, such as ‘broken’ or ‘limited’, are too negative and imply her English is imperfect.

She acknowledges that when she was growing up, she was ashamed of the way her mother spoke. 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’.

She observes that her mother is treated differently because of the way she speaks. 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 mother’s insistence – called her daughter, they issued a grovelling apology.

Amy Tan also believes her mother’s English affected her daughter’s school results. Tan acknowledges that, whilst she did well in maths and science, subjects with a single correct answer, she was less adept at English. 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.

Indeed, Tan conjectures that many Asian American children are probably encouraged to pursue careers in jobs requiring maths and science rather than English for this reason. But because she is rebellious and likes to challenge people’s assumptions about her, Tan bucked this trend. She majored in English at college and began writing as a freelancer.

She began writing fiction in 1985, and after several false starts trying to find her own style and idiom, she began to write with her mother in mind as the ideal reader for her stories. Indeed, her mother read drafts of her work.

And Tan drew on all the Englishes , plural, that she knew: the ‘broken’ English her mother used, the ‘simple’ English Tan used when talking to her mother, the ‘watered-down’ Chinese her mother used, and her mother’s ‘internal’ language which conveyed her passion, intent, imagery, and the nature of her thoughts. 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.

‘Mother Tongue’: analysis

The title of Amy Tan’s essay is a pun on the expression ‘mother tongue’, referring to one’s first language. But Tan’s language, or ‘tongue’, has been shaped by her actual mother, whose first language (or mother tongue) was not English, but Chinese.

The different forms of English that mother and daughter speak are also a product of their backgrounds: whilst Tan’s 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.

Much of Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club is about daughters and their relationships with their mothers. But Tan’s interest in language, both as a cultural marker and as a way of expressing thought and personality, is also a prevailing theme of the novel.

In this respect, if the parable ‘ Feathers from a Thousand Li Away ’ acts as preface to the novel, ‘Mother Tongue’, in effect, acts as a kind of postscript. It helps us to understand the way Tan approaches and uses language within the stories that make up The Joy Luck Club .

An overarching theme of Tan’s novel is mothers emigrating to America in the hope that their daughters will have better lives than they did. This is a key part of ‘Feathers from a Thousand Li Away’, and it helps us to understand Tan’s conflicted attitude towards her mother’s use of language as explored in ‘Mother Tongue’.

Many of the mothers in The Joy Luck Club , such as Betty St. Clair in ‘The Voice from the Wall’, feel isolated from those around them, never at home in America, and hyper-aware of their outsider status, despite becoming legal permanent citizens in the country. Tan’s 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 mother’s different way of speaking.

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. Language is thus more than just a cultural marker: Tan reveals, in ‘Mother Tongue’, the extent to which it is a tool of power (or, depending on the use, powerlessness), particularly for those from migrant backgrounds.

In this connection, it is noteworthy that Tan chooses to focus on the school tests she undertook before concluding that her mother’s ‘broken’ style of English has been misunderstood – not just literally (by some people who’ve known her), but in terms of the misleading perceptions of her it has led others to formulate.

The class tests at school which reduced English proficiency to an ability to recognise a ‘correct’ answer are thus contrasted with Tan’s resounding final words of ‘Mother Tongue’, which see her seeking to capture the passion of her mother, the ‘nature of her thoughts’, and the imagery she uses: all things which her daughter has clearly inherited a respect for, and which school tests fail to capture or observe.

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Discussion: amy tan’s “mother tongue”.

Add a comment to this post with your answers to the following questions:

Amy Tan writes, “Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use.” What are these different Englishes; when, where and how does she use them? What does this piece illustrate about Tan’s responsibility to and feelings about her different communities and the way she moves between these groups?

11 Comments

August 25, 2021 at 8:26 pm

The different Englishes which Tan use could be separated into her work English, home English and business English. The first her work English was demonstrated in her discussion about her book, where she noted the usage of a different kind of descriptive language for her audience. The second her home English mentioned, as she speaks of the intimate way she speaks to her mother and spouse. The third her business English mentioned when she speaks of the phone call she has with her mother’s stockbroker, one that’s more direct and demanding while at the same time seeming ‘educated’ to get the point across to the stockbroker that she is not ‘uneducated’ and able to be scammed, nor does she intend to be scammed. This piece illustrates that there is equal an importance for all forms of her English, while needed at different times, and scenarios.

August 31, 2021 at 10:30 pm

In Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” I can extract two types of English. Formal English which she uses for her speeches. She has to speak clearly and professionally because her audience is wide, and not everybody could understand her if she would speak in her own way. The second type is informal English that she uses with her mother. Based on Amy’s story about a conversation with her mother broker, I’m assuming that she was close with her during childhood and adolescence. That’s why she switches her English subconsciously in the presence of her mother.

August 31, 2021 at 10:38 pm

In this article called Amy Tan’s mother tongue describes how Amy categorize her English depending on where she’s talking. It relates to what we were discussing last class about the phrase or different types of English we use in our daily life. For example, when Amy is at work she uses her proper English with all those vocabulary words whereas when she is in phone talking to the stockbroker, she is in a very strict voice where she changes her languages because now she is seeking some answers from that guy. On the other hand, where she is home she uses her normal english language or broken because she is with her mother or husband. She uses that types of language because her family members are also used to it just how we all are when we are with our family members. This illustrates how she switches up her language depending on the surrounding. This piece shows us that how it is normal to use all form or types of English because there’s nothing to be embarrassed for. This also shows we should stick to our roots meaning we should not forget our mother tongue neither we should feel ashamed of the way we use the language English.

September 1, 2021 at 12:55 am

The different types of English she uses at home and outside her home. She would use simple, broken, and proper English. This piece illustrates the different ways to speak English and to communicate with different people.

September 1, 2021 at 10:08 am

One English Amy Tan describes is the English her mother used with her which was the “Broken” or “Fractured” English. Amy spoke back to her mother in “simple” English to be understood by her. It didn’t contain the prefect tenses, careful wrought grammatical or conditional phrases that she learned from school which she called “watered down” English. Amy noticed herself using this English when she was giving a speech in front of an audience about her writing and life. When Tan was younger, she had also translated her mother’s limited English into perfect English to be better understood by a stockbroker.

September 1, 2021 at 10:48 am

In the essay “Mother Tongue,’ Amy Tan begins by discussing a few very distinctive types of English. Then, she offers a couple of examples from her speech to illustrate that she used a sophisticated English kind. However, the two styles seem to be a lot more important to her than others. One of those types of English is the one she uses in her everyday professional life, such as when she is giving a speech. The other type of English that Tan discusses is her mother’s version of English, which seems to be a collection of short descriptive phrases without the smaller words to connect the terms. Tan notes that those short, descriptive phrases encouraged her to write fiction in English by showing her how language works to produce an image.

These divisions matter to Tan because each of these “Englishes” uniquely contributes to forming Tan. As a writer, this exposure to all of these “Englishes” has affected her greatly. She no longer focuses on writing to the readers who can understand English perfectly. Instead, Tan’s understanding of the multifaceted “Englishes” present in our nation allows her to get her message across to a larger audience.

Tan is aware that the literary audience will have a higher expectation of her writing. Therefore, she does not write about how her mother would speak (“broken English”). However, throughout her essay, any reader, whether an English scholar or student, would easily understand what Tan is trying to convey through her writing. For example, in her article, Tan states: “Fortunately, for reasons I won’t get into today, I later decided I should envision a reader for the stories I would write.

September 1, 2021 at 10:58 am

When she writes “different Englishes,” Amy Tan is referring to the word choice and sentence structures she uses with different audiences. When she is with her mother, Amy uses her “simple” English, to make sure every word is understood, without losing any meaning. When she is giving a speech, she uses “proper” English to impress her peers in academia. As a writer, Amy Tan feels a responsibility to give all the Englishes their due. She is convinced that each of them has a place in literature, and that there is no such thing as “broken” English.

September 1, 2021 at 3:23 pm

The different English used would be her business way of speaking and her comfortable way of speaking. When speaking to people who are strangers or your colleagues the way she spoke was very proper and correct. The way she spoke to people and family that she was comfortable with was more laid back and free. She believes that all the ways to speak English are important in their own way, and serves a purpose.

September 1, 2021 at 5:50 pm

Amy Tan discusses few Englishes in the passage, specifically, the type of English she uses in her professional life, the English she uses in her personal when she speaks to her mother and husband, and the English she uses when addressing someone over there phone regarding her mother when she was talking to her mother’s appointment representative. Due to these different Englishes Tan has been exposed to, it gives her the advantage to reach a more diverse audience when she speaks because just as she can speak to her mother as a mothers tongue, she can also relate to the professional field with her sound vocabulary.

September 1, 2021 at 6:14 pm

Amy Tan uses two types of English a formal type in which she uses less broken English and a lot more proper words and she used this when talking to stranger or people who have an established business relationship with her and she has an informal English which is a lot more lax and uses her broken English a lot more she uses it when talking to her mother or husband or people who she is comfortable around. This pieces illustrates Tan’s understanding of how she is perceived and how well people understand her when she is using these different types of English. She also knows that each of these types of English are just as important as their counterparts and may be key parts of life for others like her.

September 10, 2021 at 11:55 pm

Writer Amy Tan acknowledges that she changes her tone and attitude while speaking English when she’s communicating with her mother versus everyone else. She doesn’t like to refer to her mother’s English as broken English. She believes that her mother’s English is perfectly fine. She speaks differently to people at offices, banks, etc. She does that subconsciously. Despite Tan’s disapproval of her community growing up, she has come to terms with them.

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Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”: Literary Analysis

Language barriers and cultural differences is a real issue for people. Children of immigrant families get a unique view and experience as a bilingual kid; they will become familiar with two different backgrounds. Amy Tan , Author of  “ Mother Tongue ” uses her personal experiences with her mother to create a contrast between her mother who speaks “broken English”, other people and herself who speaks “perfect English” yet is also fluent in ‘broken English.

Tan talks about how people are treated differently based on how they speak, if you seem to be more sophisticated and precisely say your sentences, you can earn people’s respect easier. She uses her essay to persuade people that language is not so superficial.

In “ Mother Tongue “, Amy Tan uses anecdotes and anaphora to emphasize that language is not about the surface structure, but rather about the underlying meaning the thoughts come from. Tan uses anecdotes throughout the essay to describe her growing wisdom of language and its evolving roles in her life. She found that while she is presents formal lectures, she uses phrases such as “The intersection of memory upon imagination” and “There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus- and- thus”. But when she is with her mother, she will use the same “broken English” her mother uses. When they were talking about the “price of used furniture, she found herself saying this: “Not waste money this way”. This illustrates the difference between the two types of language Tan uses. It may be habit for her mother to better understand, but Tan does states that her mother is capable of understanding words. These anecdotes lead to a large falsehood that people who have language barriers are not smart enough to understand what is being said. It has been pressed into us, that we need to sound smart in order for people to believe that we are smart. However, Tan uses these anecdotes to argue that we cannot judge a persons faulted speech, it’s the passion with which one speaks and the meaning that they are trying to relay, which makes a person a truly effective speaker . Tan also uses repetition to make comparison between her “perfect English” and her mother’s “broken English”, by describing the specific issues each has.

On top of the constant use of broken, simple, imperfect and perfect English to describe the difference between her and her mother’s speech, the author also uses repetition when describing other people’s view of her mother’s speech. Tan did not have issues understanding her mother’s language because she grew up with it, but “some of her friends said they understand 50 percent of what her mother said. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of is, as if she were speaking pure Chinese”. Then she goes on to say that “her mother’s English is the perfectly clear, perfectly natural” because she grew up around it. This clearly shows a distinction between Tans view and other peoples view of her mother’s language. It gives the audience an image of her having a foot in both cultures. She gains more credibility this way by speaking from personal experience. She clearly shows that although others might see one a certain way, others can see them a different way, and language, like many other things, can’t be judged quickly.

The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue” Argumentative Essay

Introduction, language: significance and effects, importance of language: the tool that can unite and isolate, language as a necessity, importance of language in literature & communication, works cited.

This essay examines the importance of language in literature, communication, and culture in general. Language, identity, and power have an interrelationship that has generated debate and discourses that affect not only an individual but also the broader community from where he comes. In this research paper, we will explore the relationship between language and identity. Using Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, we will look at the significance of language and how it affects the lives of people in their communities.

Reading this story, it comes out clearly that the tongue affects the lives of individuals. That’s how language defines who we are. Therefore, it plays a role in his or her choices and the lifestyle he or she lives. People use language to view human life from different perspectives.

In this story, Amy explores how the language she learned in classroom affected her life in different ways. She is a daughter to immigrant parents; her mother is a smart woman. Amy is a source of communication between her mother and those who don’t understand her. Here, Amy has used this story to emphasize that someone is not less intelligent just because he or she can not speak perfect English, like those who are native speakers.

It is rare to get two people who speak the same language, even those who think they do so, fail to notice the variations in their speech because they are used to it. Amy is of Chinese descent, and therefore, language played a significant role in her family as she struggled to fit into the American society with a mother who used “limited English” (Tan 78).

This story reflects the lives of many Americans who are natural citizens of the United States. I am sure there are many people out there who have parents with their way of speaking and comprehension of the English language, as did Amy.

This fact does not reduce the intelligence of such parents. Still, they are forced to depend on their children for translations during communications. Sometimes it makes children ashamed by their parents, just as Amy was when she joined others to describe her mother’s English as ‘Broken “or “Fractured” (Tan 78).

Language is exceptional, not just for Amy and immigrants in foreign lands, but for all of us. Speech brings people close to their families in special ways. Amy agrees with me saying that language “can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth” (Tan 76).(Tan 76).

Imagine a situation when you wake up one day and realize that you have no voice and, therefore, can not communicate with those around you. That’s when you will understand how large the importance of mother tongue is. Speechlessness means that you are not able to express yourself, communicate, or participate in what goes on in your world. Language involves combining specific words in a particular order.

This depends on different people where you can find people using the same words but in a separate order. What is important is that so long as they can communicate, then that order is important to them. Language, therefore, helps in empowering people and helping them establish and define their identity.

There is no doubt that through speech, people are bound together as one community. However, it can also alienate individuals in a community.

Sometimes people use language to label others as outsiders. People use language to form stereotypes of others. For instance, in this story, Amy tells us that she has often been asked why there aren’t many Asian Americans in American literature. We also learn that there are very few Asian Americans who do creative writing. The answer to these questions lies in the formation of stereotypes.

Many Asian Americans are known to do well in sciences and mathematics than in English. Their English, as Amy says, is also described as “broken” or “limited”. It means that their teachers use these stereotypes to steer them away from writing. They encourage them to take mathematics and sciences courses just as they did to Amy. Stereotyping, in essence, is wrong (Zeng 10).

Language does more than just articulating a simple truth; the way one commands language also matters a lot. We have just learned that without being able to speak, an individual will be voiceless, but having an imperfect language makes others see one as incomplete. However, those who are fluent in the standard language are seen to be superior to others. It is illustrated in “mother tongue” when Amy tells us the community treated her mother. She says: “People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.” (Tan 78)

Those people were not respectful to Amy’s mother because she spoke English that was simple, which they disparagingly termed as “broken” or “fractured” (Tan 78).

This reflects what happens in many communities in the world. When people lack the standard skills of a language, they become outsiders and, therefore, are discriminated by those who enjoy the standard language skills in their communities.

Reading through this story, one gets to understand that acquiring a specific language does not only enable one to be accepted in a community; it also helps in determining one’s individuality. The experience that an individual goes through with language goes a long way in shaping his or her self identity.

This is illustrated in this story clearly when Amy tells us about the different Englishes she applies in her daily communication. We see that to communicate with her family, Amy uses the simple form of English. She calls the one her mother uses as broken English, and however, when interacting with people in her personal life, Amy uses a more sophisticated version of the English language.

Bond explains further that both accommodation and affirmation can occur to the same content, in other words, there can be different effects language happening to the same type of content (Chen & Bond, p.399). She confesses that there were instances in her life when she was embarrassed by the English her mother used.

However, as she continued to grow, she came to understand how important the role of English was to her. She says in this story that she realized that her mother’s English was perfectly clear; it was actually her native language.

This means that it was this language that helped her make sense of what goes around her. This realization makes her wince whenever she calls her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured”. She does not think that her mother’s English needs any fixing. To her, it is whole and sound, and therefore terming it broken or fractured when she uses it to communicate with her mum looks unfair (Tan 77).

Towards the end of this story, Amy tells us that it doesn’t matter what type of English you use, what matters is that you can communicate. The different Englishes in her life shaped her into what she later become, a writer, much to her critics’ disapproval that she couldn’t make a good writer. Therefore, the role and importance of language in literature is not as straightforward as it might seem.

It is an encouragement to those who are in the same circumstances as Amy that even if they find it hard to speak perfect English, they should never back down from giving their point of view. We have seen that despite her broken English, Amy’s mother helped her to understand English better.

It is her mother who encouraged her to become a writer. People have different mother tongues that they were taught when young, but as individuals grow, they develop different Englishes which they use as circumstances direct.

The language that an individual uses at work is not the same he uses at home or with friends. Language should be seen as a tool for social improvement, through which many people of different backgrounds come together in a cohesive coexistence (Feng 159).

This essay analyzed the importance of language using Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”. To summarize, Tan’s story tells us that the main purpose of language is to enable people to express themselves and also be in a position to share the expression with others. That’s the sphere where the significance of language is undoubted. It doesn’t matter what form of the language one uses, so long as it is used to express oneself and others understand the expression, then no one is justified to discriminate against it no matter how broken or fractured the language.

Tan’s mother managed to express herself with people in her life using her Broken English; it is this same broken English that shaped Tan into what she is today. Had her mother stooped to intimidation, probably Tan wouldn’t have grown up to become a writer.

It is a person’s point of view that matters; therefore, people should not be intimidated by those who think they know the standard language from giving their points of view.

Chen, Sylvia & Bond, Michael. “Explaining language priming effects: Further evidence for ethnic affirmation among Chinese-English bilinguals.” Journal of language and social psychology 26.1 (2007): 398-406.

Feng, Hui. “Different languages, different cultures, different language ideologies, different linguistic models.” Journal of multicultural discourses 4.2 (2009): 151-164. Print.

Tan Amy (1990). “ Mother Tongue .” Three penny Review: 76-80. Print.

Zeng, Li. “Diasporic Self, Cultural Other: Negotiating Ethnicity through Transformation in the Fiction of Tan and Kingston.” Language and Literature XXVIII (2003): 1-15. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2018, May 24). The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/

"The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." IvyPanda , 24 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”'. 24 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

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Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue': Analysis

In her essay, Mother Tongue , Amy Tan contemplates how her background shaped her life, her education, and brought her shame, but ultimately, she learns to embrace her background. Tan describes the way that she was stuck between two worlds. When she is with her mother, she speaks in simple English, but while she is in the public eye, she shifts to an English that is more formal and acceptable; one that English-speaking people accept. Tan relates her story of her mother talking about a gangster that wanted her family in China to adopt him because her family had more status.

She tells us the story using her mother’s language, so we can see how expressive her mother’s broken English is. Even though the language is not what we may be used to, her story is something we can follow. It is vivid with detail and images. For Tan, her mother’s language is the language of her childhood, and it is clear, and full of imagery. She has no difficulties understanding exactly what her mother is saying. She knows that this simple English is the same language that helped her understand the world, helped her formulate her views, and helped her learn to express herself.

In the beginning of Amy Tan’s narrative, “Mother Tongue” she states, “I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language – the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth” (Tan 299). In these few sentences you understand the passion she has for the English language and what it can do. Tan explains to her audience that she was introduced to the English language in many ways. She gives numerous examples of different language from the different influences in her life. Her use of language in this essay helps to prove her point that you shouldn’t base your judgment of someone’s intelligence on their use of an unfamiliar language. Tan’s rarely uses concise language, so much so that my word editor recommended the use of concise language on multiple quotes. She uses her writing as a strategy to effectively prove her point.

Tan’s intended audience could be anyone that had to learn a new language to fit in where they live. She shows the readers that there is more than one kind of correct English. She often refers to the “Englishes” that she uses. Tan points out the narrow-minded views that many people have of people that come from different backgrounds or cultures. The use of her mother’s experience shows the reader that people would judge way to quickly after hearing her mother talk. People would often assume that her mother was uneducated, even though she “reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stock broker and reads all of Shirley MacLaine books with ease- she does all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand” (Tan 300). Tan is trying to motivate people to accept the things that make them different. She is showing the audience that people will often have misconceptions about people that come from different countries, and people that aren’t easy to understand.

Amy Tan can effectively persuade her readers by her use of ethos and having a strongly known character. Tan uses easy to read language throughout her essay. Even without elegant words, the readers can still understand the complexity of the argument she is making. In the last paragraph Tan is able to emphasize the way that she is more concerned with her audience and appealing to them. She states, “Apart from what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: ‘So easy to read’ ” (Tan 302). She is not seeking the approval of critics and chooses not to write like a professor even though others might believe she should. She writes purely for her audience and wants them to be able to understand her writing to the fullest.

Tan makes her writing so easy to read because she knows that most people who natively speak Chinese have a hard time being understood by English speaking people. She has goodwill for her audience because she has felt the pain of being treated poorly due to language barriers. Tan vividly describes a time when her mother was treated unfairly simply because the other person didn’t understand what she was trying to say. She recalls a time when a hospital would not look for a lost CAT scan for her mother until she came to translate. Since her mother was unable to speak perfect English, the person in charge of the results did not concentrate on what she was saying. It wasn’t until Tan came and explained what her mother was talking about that the doctor would take the situation seriously. The doctor immediately responded to the request and apologized for the mistake. It makes it clear that people who did not have perfect English can sometimes get misunderstood and disregarded. Tan explains how some people are treated simply because they are thought to be inferior. Not speaking perfect English according to how Tan’s mother was treated prevented her from accessing or getting the right services. The author’s way of writing is unique and complex on how she develops her points. She shows us the problem then tells us why it is a problem.

The carefully chosen writing style of “Mother Tongue” makes the essay feel like a conversation that you are having. Tan engages the audience directly when she says, “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of the English language belies how much she really understands” (Tan 299). By directly addressing the audience she is able to show that she wasn’t writing this essay just to share her ideas, she really wants the reader to understand what is happening, and why it is such a difficult situation. Tan uses many storytelling techniques to make all the experiences feel more personal. By making the readers struggle to understand her mother, Tan makes the reader feel the frustration of the thick language barrier. We are compelled to experience all of the confusion as if we are having a real conversation. The reader is made to feel empathetic towards the situation. Tan knows what her mother means, and she feels bad that others don’t get to experience her thoughts or ideas. Tan’s writing style gives her readers a glimpse of what it must feel like to be stuck between the two worlds. As a reader you are made to feel the road block that is put in the way of her mother. It creates a feeling of defeat when she knows that her mother is capable of expressing her own ideas, but due to people’s impatience she has to constantly be a translator.

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Why mother tongue education holds the key to unlocking every child's potential, the transformative role of learning in children’s native language..

Imagine a world where the first words you learn aren't just sounds, but keys unlocking understanding, confidence, and a boundless love for learning. This is the promise of mother tongue education, often met with skepticism due to the misconception that it's not "aspirational" enough. But is this truly the case? Let's delve deeper and discover why embracing a child's mother tongue in education holds immense potential, weaving together threads of cultural pride, cognitive development, and a future brimming with possibilities.

For many children, especially in tribal areas, classrooms and language of instruction feel foreign, creating an invisible wall between them and knowledge. Studies reveal the emotional toll, with children struggling, losing confidence, and their inherent curiosity fading. This is where the power of mother tongue education shines. When a child learns in their familiar language, the world opens up. Concepts transform from abstract notions into relatable experiences, igniting a spark of understanding and a sense of "I can do this!"

The belief that mother tongue education lacks ambition stems from equating global success with a single dominant language. This overlooks the power and beauty of multilingualism, and the profound impact on a child's cognitive and emotional development.

A Bridge to Understanding:

When children learn in mother tongue, they navigate knowledge with confidence and ease. Concepts become clearer, ideas flow freely, and the joy of discovery amplifies. Imagine a tribal child understanding math through their own language, promoting a sense of belonging and active participation.

Building a Strong Foundation:

Studies have consistently shown that children who receive education in their mother tongue develop stronger cognitive skills, particularly in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. This solid foundation lays the groundwork for future academic success, allowing them to not only grasp complex subjects but also excel in other languages they may encounter later.

Boosting Confidence and Self-Esteem:

Beyond academic benefits, mother tongue education fosters a sense of self-worth and cultural identity. When a child expresses themselves confidently in their native language, they radiate self-assurance and a deep connection to their heritage. This intrinsic motivation fuels their desire to learn, propelling them forward on their educational journey.

Embracing Diversity:

India's linguistic landscape, with over 22 official languages and countless dialects, is rich and diverse. Embracing this diversity through mother tongue education celebrates each language's cultural heritage, creating an equitable and inclusive system that values all children's unique identities.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Implementing mother tongue education effectively requires a concerted effort. The sheer number of languages spoken in India necessitates careful planning, resource allocation, and teacher training. Additionally, addressing the misconception that fluency in a dominant language is essential for success requires a shift in mindset, both within the educational system and society at large.

However, these challenges are not impossible. The National Education Policy 2020 and initiatives like UNICEF's Multilingual Education programs offer a clear path forward. Already, we see success stories unfolding: Children in Chhattisgarh are thriving, their confidence soaring as they learn in their native Halbi language. In Jharkhand, five tribal languages are being used to weave magic, bridging hearts and minds through stories and songs. Rajasthan is mapping its linguistic landscape, paving the way for a brighter future with Multilingual Education. These examples showcase the empowering potential of mother tongue education. By working together with communities, stakeholders, and technology, we can unlock this potential and transform the lives of millions of children.

The Future is Multilingual:

Imagine a future where every child, regardless of their background, can access quality education in their mother tongue. A future where classrooms resonate with the diverse melodies of India's languages, fostering a love for learning and a celebration of cultural richness. This is the future we can create by embracing mother tongue education, not as a limitation, but as a powerful tool to empower children, unlock their potential, and build a brighter future for all.

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Mother Tongue

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“I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language—the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.” 

The crux of Tan’s argument is that how one thinks about language and how one represents ideas is important. This introductory argument about the “power of language” is referential to the quality of Tan’s writing in “Mother Tongue” and to her larger point regarding different forms of English and writing for a specific audience . Later in the text Tan describes her mother’s ability to do all the things that she lists here: evoke emotion, describe vivid images, express complex ideas, and capture truth.

“Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use.” 

Tan argues that there are different “Englishes.” There are formal Englishes, Englishes for different contexts (e.g., for the family, for out in public), and Englishes specific to people who speak languages other than English . Tan articulates her own understanding and awareness of the importance of these myriad Englishes as she develops her perspective in this essay.

“You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands.” 

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Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Mother Tongue” Complete English Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Mother Tongue

A “Mother tongue” is the language that a human being learns from infancy. It is normally the native language of that person and he learns it from his parents and other members of the family and it is with this language that he first learns to relate socially with other people. Language is not just a means of communication. To a large extent it pervades our culture and life and is indicative of the refinement of a race in many ways. It is intrinsic to an individual and there is a special bond one shares with the mother tongue.

These days we see the mother tongue losing importance to other languages. English being the international business language, one is forced to learn it to be competitive. While English as a unifying language is truly wonderful, we cannot allow the death of all the other languages and dialects our country is proud of. Each language bears its own flavor which is typical to the place of its origin and the people who speak it. While all languages are a means of communicating, there is a distinctive style that each language has and although one might be able to translate the gist of it, one can never hope to capture the flavor.

The mother tongue is the true vehicle of wit. A man’s native speech is an inseparable part of his personality and must never be lost. The mother tongue should be preserved at any cost to preserve the rich cultural fabric of our existence.

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Mother Tongue

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her […] —a speech filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, 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.

It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.

But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. 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.

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. I’ve heard other terms used […] But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions of the limited-English speaker.

I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect.

Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgement call, a matter of opinion and personal experience.

Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me.

I wrote what I thought to be wittily crafted sentences, sentences that would finally prove I had mastery over the English language.

I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as “simple”; the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as “watered down”; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure.

I wanted to capture what language ability tests could never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.

Harrison Butker’s Hometown Gives Him a Major Tongue Lashing

It takes a village to raise a star—but teachers, peers, and others in Harrison Butker’s hometown think he deserves a time-out for his “dystopian” commencement speech.

Noor Ibrahim

Managing Editor

Emily Shugerman

Senior Reporter

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Outrage over Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement speech—in which he urged women to prioritize their families over their careers and railed against the LGBTQ community—has reverberated across the country and right back to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia .

Among those incensed by the speech are teachers, peers, and others in the community who spoke with The Daily Beast about their reactions to Butker’s controversial remarks.

“I was sick. I was disgusted,” said Amy Allen, an Atlanta real estate agent whose daughter overlapped with Butker at Westminster Schools, the elite private academy the star athlete attended. “It just felt so dystopian and just so backward… If someone were to sit there and say that to my daughter, I would just lose it,” she told The Daily Beast.

Butker, 28, addressed graduates of a small Catholic university in Kansas called Benedictine College on Saturday. The star kicker is a devout Catholic who has openly shared his religious views in the past, and he didn’t hold back in his speech, railing against abortion, IVF, surrogacy, Pride month, and “degenerate cultural values.”

In a particularly controversial remark, Butker told female graduates that their “most important title” should be that of “homemaker,” adding, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world… I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother."

The remarks drew swift rebukes from audience members, rival teams, and even the NFL, which said in a statement that Butker’s views “are not those of the NFL as an organization” and that the league is “steadfast in our commitment to inclusion.”

But the comments were particularly troubling for those who knew him—or knew of him—during his time as a rising star at Westminster and at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he attended college.

Representatives for Westminster, Georgia Tech, and the Chiefs did not respond to requests for comment.

Allen, who said she knew Butker had “incredible talent and a bright future” in football when she watched him play as a high school student, described the speech as “mind-boggling.”

“What he believes are ‘traditional family values’ are actually an antiquated and oppressive system where men who look like him get to enjoy a special and inherent privilege and power and everyone else has a boot on their neck,” she said.

A former Westminster teacher during Butker’s time, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said the older generation of teachers and parents at the school may have received the kicker’s comments well.

“I think if you ask people from maybe a certain generation, they might say, ‘Oh, well, of course, that was a perfectly acceptable, normal, right up the center, graduation speech to give,’” he said. “But also I can imagine kids who are juniors who are part of this new generation that would be appalled by that,” he added. “I mean, he actually did a pretty broad swipe at pretty much every demographic you could find—it was like a lawn sprinkler!”

Rhonda Schwartz, another parent of an alum who overlapped with Butker at Westminster, told The Daily Beast she wasn’t surprised by the immense backlash to Butker’s comments. “The comment is being made at a commencement where women have really worked hard for their degrees and to use them. So I can understand that women may feel that that achievement is being minimized.”

Schwartz, a veteran journalist who spent decades working in a newsroom, said the issue felt personal because of her own experiences balancing professional obligations and family.

“Leaving my reporting career at CNN was the hardest decision I ever made in my life,” she said. “But there's no one size fits all … I believe that women should be free to choose which path they want to take. And sometimes women may be working full time, sometimes they take some time off, sometimes they come back. But I think it has to be personal.”

‘A Slap in the Face’

Westminster isn’t the only alma mater community outraged by Butker’s speech.

“I was a big fan of his when I was at Georgia Tech—we all were, because he’s got great talent,” said Carol Colatrella, a professor of literature and cultural studies at the university. “So I guess that’s what makes it really troubling to me.”

Colatrella said the school, which is well known for its engineering and computer science departments, is making a concerted effort to recruit more women and create a more welcoming environment for them on campus.

“This goes against that image of a place that is open and critically thinking, not just spouting some party line,” she added, calling Butker’s statements “a slap in the face” to women graduates. “I think if you interviewed people at Georgia Tech... most people wouldn’t agree with [his comments] either.”

Christopher Yandle, the former assistant director for communications at Georgia Tech, wrote on Facebook that he worked with Butker as a student athlete and that this behavior was “not what I saw 10 years ago.”

“To say I’m disappointed in Harrison Butker’s comments is an understatement,” Yandle wrote. “But I think Harrison isn’t going to like how we raise our teenage daughter… She will never apologize for being a strong fucking woman because that’s who we raised her to be,” he added.

Several Georgia Tech and Westminster community members noted that Butker’s mother, Elizabeth, is an accomplished medical physicist at Emory University, with a master’s degree from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s from Smith, the prestigious women’s college. The former Westminster teacher called Butker’s remarks “a complete polarization from his own mom… who maybe didn't cross the graduation stage thinking about having babies.”

Elizabeth Butker has not commented on her son’s recent remarks, but said in a statement in 2020 that she was proud of “the man he has become.”

There are a string of other accomplished women in Butker’s life, from his younger sister—a physician’s assistant who studied at Weill Cornell Graduate School—to his aunt, a senior vice president at McGriff, Seibels & Williams insurance company. Reached by phone, his aunt, Alice Butker, said she had not been able to watch her nephew’s speech because she was too busy at work.

Many of Butker’s fellow Georgia Tech graduates from the class of 2017 have also gone on to achieve career success—including the more than 50 women who also graduated with degrees in industrial engineering.

Maria Auslander, a senior consultant at the business consulting firm Slalom, not only graduated at the same time and with the same degree as Butker, but was also raised Catholic. She told The Daily Beast she was “proud of the career I’ve built for myself,” and that women “should have the right to choose how they spend the time in their lives, without judgment.”

“I’m proud of the women in my life who chose to have careers and I’m proud of the women in my life who have decided to be mothers—both endeavors are worthwhile,” she said in an email.

“In response to Butker quoting Taylor Swift, I’ll quote what I’m assuming is his favorite book—‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ (Matthew 7:1).”

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I.C.C. Prosecutor Requests Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders

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This week, Karim Khan, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

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