Blog #3 - Opinion Column - Mother Tounge - Amy Tan

It is interesting to read about other people’s perspective on the English language. Not from people like me who speak English fluently. I love to see how people who are new to the language see it. The first idea associates the English language with power, as a global standard for politics and an international industry standard. It breaded the idea that a person cannot survive in any scalable business, education or career without English.

In the example of Mother's tongue by Amy Tan, I like the scenario where the mother is at the hospital desk, where they were told the scan conducted was lost. Because of the mother’s poor/broken English, the hospital makes the woman the last priority and even attempts to cheat her by telling her she would need to pay and have the test redone over an extended period. Medially this is the time she does not have.

The section has personality, describing a serious environment, and over the counter argument in a public place. Sentences are very long, detailed and emotion and tension of the situation.

The cause of the whole text, in general, is very newsworthy, it shares a raw perspective in the first person, this causal form of writing is great for the reader and the speaker, this form of language through a public media means that there are no filters of the content. Content is straight from a perspective to an audience. Making the information pure form the source, giving credible primary perspectives on an area of interest.

Tan does not provide any real call to action in the column. This suggests that the purpose of the text is to create awareness of the issue, as a reader I interpreted an evaluative question of ‘Is this an issue that can ever be resolved?’ and the truth is that it can’t, people are so ignorant and don’t care about anyone other than themselves, it is a bias to themselves and their own English. Which raises another question as to ‘who gets to decide what the perfect English is?’

In the example to the CAT scan scenario Tan uses Hard-facts and Logos, she appeals to logic, justifying why the situation is serious. The logic that the mother's husband and son have both recently died of brain tumors persuades the reader to believe physically the seriousness of the situation. Showing how Hard facts and Logos work together to create evoke emotion in the reader.

Saed Abdulhadi – October 2017