Post 1 Mother Tongue

Reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan was an example of how she grew up with her mother who spoke poor English, but to her seemed almost perfectly clear. It was HER mother tongue. Amy went through all her life hearing how her mother spoke and it was natural to her. Amy quotes later on that she catches herself saying, "Not waste money that way." This language was what was familiar to her, but to other people was broken English. This memoir was meaningful to me because I can relate in a way where some of my family and I have our own mother tongue. Most of my family beyond my parents is Italian and my Uncle actually came to Ellis Island when he was 15 from Italy. When we are all together we speak English but we say some words in Italian. For instance when we greet each other, we kiss on the cheek and my Uncle always says "Ah, Mi Amor," which means my love and I see that as normal. I look at that as MY mother tongue although other people may not understand. I never saw it as anything different because that was how I grew up and how I was taught. The theme in Mother Tongue is how versatile language can be. There is not one, correct definition for a mother tongue because everyone grows up differently. Then purpose Amy Tan     tries to convey is that what you grow up with and what you are used to doesn't always mean its right. There is a lot of realization in this story and how she picks up on her broken mother tongue that she never knew was broken. Mother Tongue conveys a great message that could apply to a lot of people and it made me realize that I also had a mother tongue.