In the short stories of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and Public and Private Language by Richard Rodriquez, both essays describe an influence on the English language and what impact they had while coping with that language. For Amy tan in Mother Tongue, she roots the common source for who had what kind of impact on her learning of that language. In Public and Private Language, Richard Rodriguez establishes a view point on why it is important to be given a public identity.
Both stories come together to validate a viewpoint on a second language they struggle to learn that helps them find their own identity. In Public and Private Language, by Richard Rodriguez the essay reveals his years in learning a foreign language that gives him a particular identity. His techniques in writing this essay rely more on recall and foreshadowing as he creates a flow in a timeline that allows the reader to see more of an impact on his life and how he is affected.
For him he argues that learning English became easier once his family had joined in with it. He argues that “they do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievements of public individuality. By learning to cope with an English speaking society Rodriguez becomes stronger and has a public individuality.
The Review on First Language and Learning English
Language is the most dynamic form of symbolism that cultures possesses. Language is the medium in which people interact and communicate for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and feelings. Language acquisition has been one of the most intriguing aspects of human nature and had been the focus of different disciplines. For the most part, language acquisition had been theorized and conceptualized in ...
In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, Tan learns that being integrated with English at a young age can be impacted in several manners. She mainly took it with her mother as no “English is like her mothers. ” Because of this English tan is able to see something that most Asian learning children are not. Tans technique in writing this essay have the same effect as Rodriquez in that she uses recall and some foreshadowing to encourage a positive growth in what she had been taught. Using English as a backdrop tan also speaks of what her Asian stereotype is and why it is established.
She breaks down a barrier that creates an idea of why Asians only go into engineering and not English. It is because their family never encouraged English as an option. With both essays of Rodriguez and Tan, the reader is able to see a correlation with a theme. Both stories come together to validate a viewpoint on a second language they struggle to learn that helps them find their own identity. Whether it be from soley their moms uniqueness or as a family coming together.
