Language, Culture and Identity

Ramtahal 1
Marlon Ramtahal
Ms. Sara Blomquist
ENG 1030: 34
September 26, 2013
Language, Culture, and Identity
Language plays a vital role in our everyday lives. It gives a person the ability to
communicate and engage in modern culture. In Amy Tans essay, Mother Tongue, the
audiences are able to learn about the language barriers and obstacles in Asian American
society. Amy Tan makes it clear as to how society usually determines a persons
intelligence by their use of language and interactions with other people. Her argument in
the essay demonstrates how people are often mistreated because of their approach to
Standard American English. In society, people are often judged by their accent and social
activity. As a diverse community, an individuals use of language should not determine
their intelligence and character. Our moral behaviors, talents, and interests are key
elements that allow us to express our potentials and shape our identities.
Since people are judgmental of how an individual speaks, they judge their own
conception of their moral character. Amy Tan informs her audience how people in her
local community would struggle trying to understand her mother because of her broken
English. Many people would disregard her character because of the way she sounded
when she spoke the English language. Amy Tan correlates the struggles of her mother in
a way that relates to the social norms of our everyday lives. When people ridicule our
personality and judge our perceptions of language, we become distracted from acquiring
our goals and fulfilling our dreams as a society.
Ramtahal 2
As a society, we are committed to succeeding in our lives despite of our
expressions and ethnic backgrounds. Amy Tan overcame her obstacles of trying to
become a writer. Many people criticized her writing style because of her mother
tongue. She declares, I started writing nonfiction as a freelancer the week I was told by
my former boss that writing was my worst skill and I should hone my talents toward
account management. Since people stereotype others, society expects them to perform a
certain way. Amy Tan was expected to be an excellent student in Math and Science
because of her ethnicity. She includes in her essay how her teachers would steer her away
from her writing abilities, but help her concentrate in Math instead. However, she was
determined to become a writer and did not allow other peoples perceptions of her distract
her from fulfilling that ambition.
Whether one is born in an English speaking country or not, language is developed
primarily at home. Everyone has a mother tongue, or a first language, that was taught
to him or her as a child in their family household. In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan speaks
of how she grew up with many Englishes. The Englishes she mentions are mainly the
colloquial English she speaks with her mother at home and the proper English she speaks
in her professional life. Similarly, we all communicate differently because of our
interpretations of the English language and social culture. When people judge others by
expression, we give our culture a different meaning and challenge the cultural standpoint
of fairness and equality. Moreover, we view society in an aspect that portrays hatred,
prejudice, and lack of mutual understanding.
Amy Tan expresses her concerns as a writer by giving the audience the ability to
understand her struggles with language. She clearly demonstrates how our primary
Ramtahal 3
languages and stereotypes should not affect our decisions and career goals. Without
having knowledge of the English language, one may struggle to explore their
opportunities and abilities to perform in everyday situations. Everyone should be able to
express his or her concerns or interests in a particular activity without being judged.
Since we live in a multi-cultural society, people will have a different view on certain
aspects of life and how we should approach language. Language is central for learning
and socially engaging in activities that expresses our personality. If people were to always
judge another persons accent or culture, we would never be able to cooperate with
society and express our individual potential to others.
Ramtahal 4
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. If Black Isnt a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? Across
Cultures. Eds. Sheena Gillespie and Robert Sinleton. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
199. 128-131. Print
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. Across Cultures. Eds
Sheena Gillespie and Robert Singleton. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 26-31 Print
Tan, Amy. (2005) Mother Tongue. In G. Sibylle. (Ed.)
Composing Identity through Language, Culture, Technology and the Environment.
Second Edition 2005.
Dun, Douglas (1999-2007) Economics Justice and Fairness. World Wizards
communications
Campbell, Tom. Justice. New York: St. Martins, Scholarly and Reference Division,
2001. Print.

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