Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Summary In her essay ‘Mother Tongue’, Amy Tan tries to use her personal experience to describe the importance of language in a society. In this analysis, the author compares perfect English language with ‘broken language’.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Mother Tongue by Amy Tan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Using English as an example, the author attempts to explain how language is important in communications. She says â€Å"language is an essential key in enabling people to understand the definition of their identities†. In addition, the author says that she realized that language allows or authorizes individuals to participate effectively as members of a society. It is worth noting that Amy Tan is fond of language. For instance, she says that she has written a number of books in English and Chinese. However, she admits that she has never been eloquent or rhetoric when her mother is present. This is the main argument the author has put forward by demonstrating the importance of language in her life. In addition, she argues that communication is difficult without a good language. In actual sense, this essay is chiefly an analysis of personal views and perceptions of language. The author attempts to describe how language should be used and how people tend to use it in their day-to-day communication. She compares â€Å"standard English language† and â€Å"broken English language†. To develop her argument, the author has set the essay in the form of a memoir. For instance, she compares her oral use of language with her written language. Tan informs her readers that the presence of her mother in one of her lecturers made her notice some differences between her oral and written language. At this point in life, the author realized that she was not using the same language she had been using when communicating with her mother. Instead, she realized tha t she has been using â€Å"broken English† when communicating with her. Therefore, she started reflecting on her childhood and the role that the mother played in helping her shape her language and communication. Reflection From this essay, one notices the manner in which Tan attempts to present her argument. It is evident that Tan is attempting to demonstrate how learning English has an impact in her and her life. The author analyzes her childhood experience. From her analysis, it is evident that circumstances frequently forced her to translate Chinese into English when communicating with other people at school or in her neighbourhood.Advertising Looking for essay on languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More She attempts to argue that it is due to her difficulties in communicating in the two languages that drove her to become a writer. It is also clear that her life as a child was difficult because she was su pposed to use Chinese at home, but change to English when at school or when with her peers. Her main ideas are good examples of the real life experience in American communities, especially where language barriers are evident. Her use of personal experience is an important literal technique because it provides some sense of evidence and reality (Tan 1). In fact, the supporting content, which is particularly drawn from her life as a Chinese child growing up and relating with English children and teachers, provides some evidence that her narrative is convincing. In addition, it is also effective in presenting her ideas. For instance, she says, â€Å"I am not an English scholar. I cannot give you anything beyond my personal points of view† (Tan 1). This statement makes the opening sentence in the essay. It seems to make the readers realize that the author will present her personal observations and experience. As such, the reader develops some interest in what the author has exper ienced in her life and what such experience could affect them. Secondly, Tan has presented her ideas that are based on common issues that everyone experiences or observes in nature, especially where immigrants are trying to fit into a new social environment defined by language barriers. I tend to agree with Amy Tan for a number of reasons. First, I have seen people going through the same processes when trying to fit into new communities. Their children normally face the pressure of learning and using two languages- the â€Å"mother tongue† and the language used in the new society (Tan 3). This issue is good but challenging. It provides children with an ability to learn and apply two or more languages at a time. In fact, it is worth noting that Amy Tan is presenting her ideas at a time when the issue of cultural diversity is common in the United States. America is a home to a large number of immigrants from all over the world. Therefore, the U.S. has become a culturally divers e society due to the presence of people from different ethnic backgrounds. In fact, the issue of Standard English versus â€Å"Broken English† is a contemporary issue, especially in schools, public places and neighbourhoods. Although people must communicate, language barrier is always a problem in most cases. Therefore, the argument by the author contributes to the issue of language barrier, which is a current topic of debate in America.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Mother Tongue by Amy Tan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Tan, Amy.  Mother tongue.  PDF file. Web.

Make Your Essay Flow Using Transitions

Make Your Essay Flow Using Transitions Your written report, whether it is a creative, three-paragraph essay, or an extensive research paper, must be organized in a way that presents a satisfying experience for the reader. Sometimes it just seems impossible to make a paper flow- but that generally happens because your paragraphs aren’t arranged in the best possible order. Two essential ingredients for a great-reading paper are logical order and smart transitions. Create Flow With Better Paragraph Order The first step toward creating flow is making sure your paragraphs are put together in a logical order. Many times, the first draft of a report or essay is a little choppy and out of sequence. The good news about writing an essay of any length is that you can use cut and paste to rearrange your paragraphs. At first, this might sound terrifying: when you finish a draft of an essay it feels much like you have given birth- and cutting and pasting sounds scary. Don’t worry. You can simply  use a practice version of your paper to experiment with. Once you have finished a draft of your paper, save it and name it. Then make a second version by copying the entire first draft and pasting it into a new document. Now that you have a draft to experiment with, print it out and read it over. Do the paragraphs and topics flow in a logical order? If not, assign each paragraph a number and write the number in the margin. Don’t be at all surprised if you find that a paragraph on page three looks like it could work better on page one.Once you’ve numbered all the paragraphs, start cutting and pasting them in your document until they match your numbering system.Now, re-read your essay. If the order works better, you can go back and insert transition sentences between paragraphs.Finally, re-read both versions of your paper and confirm that your new version sounds better than the original. Create Flow With Transition Words Transition sentences (and words) are necessary for making connections between the claims, views, and statements you make in your writing. Transitions can involve a few words or a few sentences. If you can imagine your report as a quilt made up of many squares, you could think of your transition statements as the stitches that connect the squares. Red stitches might make your quilt ugly, while white stitching would give it flow. For some types of writing, transitions can contain just a few simple words. Words like also, furthermore, and yet, can be used to connect one idea to another. I had to walk two miles each morning to get to school. Yet, the distance was not something I considered a burden.I enjoyed walking to school when my friend Rhonda walked with me and talked about her travels.   For more sophisticated essays, you’ll need a few sentences to make your paragraphs flow. While the research was conducted at a university in Colorado, there is no evidence that altitude was considered to be a factor  ...A similar exercise was carried out in the mountain state of West Virginia, where similar extremes of altitude exist. You will find that its easy to come up with effective transitions once your paragraphs are arranged in the most logical order.