Mother Tongue by Amy Tan: The Role of English Knowledge in One’s Life

Imagine moving to a foreign country overseas and not knowing your way around. You’re in need of guidance with directions, but you don’t speak the language of the country. Wouldn’t you feel lost? Clueless? Perhaps, excluded? This is what the author, Amy Tan, in “Mother Tongue”, wanted readers to feel. Tan believes that one’s language acts as a barrier from prospering in their day to day lives. Many Americans speak English as their first language, but I believe, no two individuals speak the same English. This is also what Amy Tan reinforces in her story. She uses her writing skills throughout her essay to convey to readers the struggles her and her mother had, as non-native Americans, with language throughout their everyday lives. In my opinion, the amount of English knowledge one knows, impacts their ability to communicate effectively, their cultural identity, as well as their exposure to opportunities.

Amy Tan and her mother are Asian Americans that immigrated from Shanghai, China. They had to assimilate and adapt to the American culture with little knowledge of English. It wasn’t easy to adjust to the new environment, especially having to learn and speak English. It was especially difficult for Amy, as stated in her essay, “when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her”. Tan’s mother’s “limited” English affected Tan’s childhood growing up. Since English wasn’t her mother’s first language, she was often treated with inferiority by others due to her literacy, leading to a lack of confidence in her English. The author exemplifies her mother being mistreated in her story. She mentions an incident where her mother contacted a hospital to receive copies of CAT scans to understand her diagnosis. Despite her pleas, the hospital was unapologetic about misplacing her scans. When Amy called them, without an accent, they seemed to cooperate and apologize for their errors. Amy was often her mother’s right hand when it came to executing everyday tasks having to do with the English language. For instance, Tan explains how when she was fifteen, her mother would, “have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she”. This incident is a perspicuous example of how one’s language barricades one’s ability to perform such simple tasks.

Language influences an individual's opportunities and success. Tan’s English language was impacted and shaped by her mother’s tongue. “The language spoken in the family, especially immigrant families...plays a large role in shaping the language of the child”. The language is spoken by individuals from immigrant families shape their identity. Although Tan’s English was acceptable and considered “not poor”, as she stated, she still had difficulties in school. This was specifically apparent in English class, where she recalled her language affected her ability to perform on IQ tests, achievement tests, and the SAT. Since she wasn’t speaking English regularly at home and her mother wasn’t someone she would ask for help with English homework, Tan had trouble with grammar and structure in English class. In terms of grammar questions, it was “always a judgment call” or a “matter of opinion”, as Tan stated. The language spoken at home influenced her ability to perform in English class. Even though English wasn’t Tan’s strongest subject, she still strived to learn advanced English to become a writer. There were people trying to steer her away from the literature industry to math and science, but with her rebellious nature, she became an English major in college. Her unique language and writing style shaped who she is today. Without her “broken” English, she wouldn’t be able to create such distinct written pieces. Despite the fact that language can limit communication, it can also act as a form uniqueness from other individuals. This form of deviance is portrayed in Tan’s writing style as an author.

As a bilingual, Amy Tan had different forms of English she used depending on where she was and who she interacted with. At home, she would speak a “broken” form of English, one her mother could easily understand. While speaking with other colleagues or coworkers, she would speak a more formal business-oriented English. This supports the fact that everyone speaks a different form of English depending on their cultural identity. Language shapes who we are individually and culturally. Amy Tan is not just another immigrant in the United States, she’s unique and that shows in her language. She used this to develop a different type of writing style. She noticed that not many Asian Americans were represented in American literature, so she decided that she would be the voice for them. Using her mother as the target audience, Tan’s writing style was influenced by the troubles her mother faced with language as an immigrant in America. Her mother’s inability to communicate with other Americans and mistreatment by others due to her lack of English was a driving force to become a writer. Her writing style was described by her mother as, “so easy to understand”, which was Amy’s ultimate goal. In some situations, like that of Tan’s, language may be the factor of success. I believe an individual’s language affects how they function in society. Even though no one speaks the same English as each other, we still strive to understand one another. With millions of immigrants in the United States, Tan and her mother are just a small example of how language played a big role in their lives in America.

Language is a vital key to communication and success. Even today, problems with communication affect many immigrants across the nation, as well as, all over the world. This essay by Amy Tan specifically distinguishes how some Americans may blindly mistreat immigrants of foreign descent due to their language, which is an issue that Tan approaches to resolve through a change in English writing.