Mother Tongue

"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."

 

"Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have

described it to people as 'broken" or "fractured" English. But I wince when I say that. 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, "limited

English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions

of the limited English speaker." 
I find this piece very relatable because I too am a child of immigrants who have relied on my English countless times in very similar situations. Although my parents' English is not nearly as "broken" as Amy Tan's mother's is, I find that this slight predicament is what bettered my English as a whole. I completely agree with several points that Amy has made. Although language's primary intent is communication, there is no such thing as "limited English" because language can be, and often times is, unique to the individual. Many professional writers purposefully make mistakes to capture and evoke emotion, express ideas and build character. Additionally, "broken" speech in this age can be considered a dialect. Similar to Amy's new-found love of her mother's English, slang connects people and unifies ideas and central concepts of different generations. The 70's were groovy and all, but I believe that generation y is the chillest.