I do believe as Tan does, that the way that people speak affects our perceptions about that person's skills or abilities. I myself have experienced a situation in which I've been stereotyped because of my race. Just like Amy's mother, the doctors mistreated her because of her broken English. In a similar situation, people around me misjudge me and think that I am incapable of doing certain things just because I am Chinese and can't speak English. But when they find out that I can speak fluent English, the whole world opens up and everything goes normally. Language is also really different in New York City and I've come to realize that people, including myself adjust to different situations and we end up talking in a different manner. When doing business, we talk formally and when around friends, we may talk informally. I think we change the way we talk because we want others see that we fit into their requirements.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
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I read this short story as well and you are 100% correct when you talk about how sometimes we speak formally and informally. It kind of makes you wonder why we as humans judge others and just assume since they are from a foreign country they don't understand anything. Some people try to take advantage of others in this way which is cruel. I can see you really related to this short story and how you first hand experienced the same thing as the author.
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