Mother Tongue

I recently read an essay by Amy Tan titled "Mother Tongue" which addresses the idea of a language of intimacy and also brings attention to the struggles and unfair treatment that some people face due to the fact that English is not their first language. So I'll go ahead and just give you guys a quick summary of the essay just so we're all on the same page. In the essay writer Amy Tan talks about her mother whose first language is not English. While her mother may read Forbes Report and listen to Wall Street Weekly  she does not use the standard English that most of us native speakers are accustomed to hearing. Tan goes on to mention that her mother is often over-looked or ignored for this very reason. The essay raises many issues that I would love to address in this post but I've decided to just stick with one for the time being.

Out of the many issues that are mentioned in "Mother Tongue" one of the most important in my opinion is the idea that non-native English speakers are often seen in a derogatory manner or are over-looked. Tan gives a very serious example of this as she describes her and her mother's experience at a hospital. Her mother's CAT scan results had been lost and no attempt was being made to find them nor was the hospital showing any sign of apology. However, as soon as her daughter speaks with the hospital there was a complete turnaround in the attitude of the hospital. This is a prime example of the inequality that many non-native English speakers face.

While we may want to think that we never do this I'm pretty sure that all of us can find that we have made this mistake at least once. As a student who is almost constantly surrounded by educated individuals I'm very accustomed to the formal/academic English used in schools and by teachers. Because of this I do sometimes catch myself associating language skills with intelligence. However I've learned that just because someone might not have the words to get their thoughts across does not mean that their thoughts are not worth hearing. Looking back on it now it really doesn't make sense to associate English skills with intelligence. I mean when you think about it non-native English speakers have not only learned their mother tongue but have also learned English which in my opinion is quite impressive.

Now I know this is supposed to be a blog about language and literature but for this post I thought it might be a good idea to bring some psychology into this. As individuals we divide ourselves into two groups: the in-group and the out-group. We always place ourselves in the in-group and we tend to have a negative view of those in the out-group. In this case people who we think do not speak English with the same level of proficiency as us are filed into the out-group which is why we may find ourselves thinking in this negative sometimes.

As a final note I hope that after bringing this issue to attention that those who read this might become a bit more sensitive to this topic and try and correct this way of thinking. Once again, thanks for reading :)