Cantonese English Stereotypes
This week in class, we read and analysed in an group discussion, the essay Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. The essay expresses Amy Tan’s experience as a English speaker in a Chinese family, where her mother’s form of English is considered “broken or improper”.Throughout the text, Tan surrounds her ideas around the fact that the English speaking world has built many stereotypes towards non-native English speakers therefor creating a form of prejudice; in her case, Cantonese English. To support her claim, the author argues the point in stating that language is language, and no matter what, It will help us express our ideas and make sense of the world around us through some form of communication or another.
As language has evolved, society has seemingly composed a and labelled what the english language means to them. Some may agree that the only way to get a message across is to use the most simple form of English they can think of. For example, the use of slang. While others think differently and agree that proper and distinctive english should be used at all times. In Amy Tan's Mother Tongue, she says "Language is the tool of our trade." Furthermore, this means that without language, being able to communicate our ideas would be merely impossible.
Throughout the essay, the author refers to her mother as an example of how society distinguishes ethnic stereotypes in America of the improper and proper English. These stereotypes usually have negative repercussions on the Eastern and Western Asian immigrants on a daily basis. Her mother says things like "(...) he belong to that side river people." other than saying "He belongs to the people who live on the side of the river. The way in which her mother speaks is clearly unstructured, but does it mean that it is wrong and does not make sense? Tan clearly expresses her thoughts on how her mother's character is put down due to the way she speaks English, followed by the way people see her and judge her, identifying her english as "broken" or "fractured".
The way in which the world sees non-native English speakers is, most of the time, negative in terms of their use of language to blend into society. Tan, referring to her mother, says "I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect."
As language has evolved, society has seemingly composed a and labelled what the english language means to them. Some may agree that the only way to get a message across is to use the most simple form of English they can think of. For example, the use of slang. While others think differently and agree that proper and distinctive english should be used at all times. In Amy Tan's Mother Tongue, she says "Language is the tool of our trade." Furthermore, this means that without language, being able to communicate our ideas would be merely impossible.
Throughout the essay, the author refers to her mother as an example of how society distinguishes ethnic stereotypes in America of the improper and proper English. These stereotypes usually have negative repercussions on the Eastern and Western Asian immigrants on a daily basis. Her mother says things like "(...) he belong to that side river people." other than saying "He belongs to the people who live on the side of the river. The way in which her mother speaks is clearly unstructured, but does it mean that it is wrong and does not make sense? Tan clearly expresses her thoughts on how her mother's character is put down due to the way she speaks English, followed by the way people see her and judge her, identifying her english as "broken" or "fractured".
The way in which the world sees non-native English speakers is, most of the time, negative in terms of their use of language to blend into society. Tan, referring to her mother, says "I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect."
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