Summary to Mothers Tongue by Amy Tan Growing up from an immigrant family Amy Tan fell in love with the English Language as she was being accustomed to the different “Englishes”. Tan would say that “Language is the tool of my trade” and she would always incorporate it in her life (1003). Tan was soon aware of the different “Englishes” she used when she was talking to a large group of people and her mother was present in the same room. Usually when talking to her mother Tan would keep her conversation simple because of her mothers broken English, but when her mother was in the room during the talk Tan was using words and phrases that would’ve been hard to understand by her mother.
Tans mother wasn’t the only one that was using the broken English but Tan herself was using it with her husband because it was the language she grew up with and had used for years during her childhood. Tan says how her “mothers English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural” but her mothers tongue makes it hard for others to understand what she is trying to say (1003). Tan was ashamed with her mothers English because no one would take her seriously and would not give her good service when it came to talking to the employees at banks, department stores and restaurants. With this being said Tan would usually have to do all the talking for her mother when it came to complaining on the phone.
When Tan was just 15 her mothers check hadn’t been sent by her stockbroker so Tan had to impersonate her mother and insist that the check be sent over. During the conversation on the phone Tans mother would be whispering in her broken English while Tan would be translating in the correct form. In another moment recalled by Tan, just 5 days ago Tan had to talk to a hospital asking them about her mothers CAT scan because it was lost. When recalling her childhood Tan remembers how English in grade school was really difficult for her but when it came to science and math she would always excel. Tan says that “Linguistics will tell you that a persons developing language skills are more influenced by peers” but Tan believes that the language spoken in the household of an immigrant family actually helps shape the language of a child (1004).
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Tan would see English with many different scenarios and answers but when she looked at math she would see one precise answer. According to Tan more Chinese students go into engineering than in English. They always perform better on math tests than on reading and writing tests. Tan then thinks about how she isn’t the only Asian-American that grew up in a household with broken English. Tan took upon the challenge and pursued an English major during her first year of college, as she enrolled in pre-med she started to write nonfiction and then started to write fiction in 1985. Tan envisioned her mother when it came to finding a reader for her stories and when her mother had finished reading her book she said it was an easy read. When hearing this Tan had known she had succeeded.
