October 23, 2021
For a long time, communication has played an essential role in various social systems in the world. We use communication to get our ideas and opinions across, sort any conflict, and understand those around us. In the United States, there isn’t an official language, but the language that we mainly use is English. With many foreigners and immigrants coming into the country, our perception of the English language changes with the new accents and pronunciation. Unfortunately, people believe that the English language should be spoken in a certain way but having a limited perspective on language can interfere with the potential for new ideas and communication in our society.
Amy Tan, a Chinese American novelist, in her essay, “Mother Tongue,” asserts that immigrants and foreigners who speak broken English are treated differently from those who speak perfect English. Tan supports her assertion by applying her personal experience with her mother’s broken language and narrating how challenging it can be for someone to grow up with broken English. Her purpose is to show how a person’s fluency does not determine their worth and how broken English can benefit writing/society in order to remove foreigners’ stigma. She establishes a defensive tone in her audience of writers and critics.
Tan begins by applying pathos, an emotional appeal, to give an audience a sense of how a person’s eloquence determines how society treats a person. Tan reveals this in the times her mom struggled to get respect from the people around her. Tan provides a situation where her mom was provided with awful assistance in the hospital when they had told her that they had lost her CAT scan results and were not apologizing for it. It was not until Amy herself went to ask for CAT scans that the hospital decided to give a different reaction. Tan said, “And when the doctor called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English — lo and behold– we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake (605).” After she had spoken with the doctor, it is clear that the doctor’s attitude changed, and they became apologetic and willing to make compromises. This quote shows how her mother’s broken English limited the treatment and response of others towards her. Tan’s use of pathos allows the audience to see the perspective of the situation and sympathize with them for the discrimination her mom went through.
Tan continues with the use of logos. Logos are used to clarify how those who do not speak perfect English can still understand the English language. Tan states, “She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease. (602)”. Tan’s mother showed how she could understand what people say when they speak in perfect English and read articles, reports, and books written in perfect English. This logic shows to the audience that perhaps those who cannot speak perfect English, like Mrs. Tan, could instead understand perfect English.
Overall, Amy Tan demonstrates the use of emotional appeals (pathos) and logical facts (logos) to enforce her argument that a person’s fluency does not determine their worth and how broken language could benefit society. Tan was able to inform the audience of the injustices that immigrants and foreigners like her mother must deal with just because they cannot speak English. To add on, she is informing them that a person’s ability to speak does not show if they can understand the language.
