Kohli 1

Devyani Kohli
Professor Jackie Hymes
English 115, MW 11:00-12:15
3 September 2014
Broken English
Amy Tan is a writer, who realized the different ways of speaking English when giving a
speech to a crowd in which her mother was in. Amy noticed that this was the first time her
mother was hearing her speak in formal English. She has a flashback of when she spoke in a
different type of English to her husband. Amy realized that for the past 20 years this language
was what she and husband were used to.
Amy gives an example of how her mothers conversation is so different from the common
English language. Even though her English is not the best, Amys mother continues to speak and
understand English by reading many popular American magazines. She states that many of her
friends have difficulty understanding her mothers English, but for Amy it easy to understand.
As a child, her mothers English embarrassed Amy. She had to help translate what her
mother was saying to others. Many times, her mother would be conned in different situations
due to her broken English. She realized that this may be an issue in many immigrant families.
Amy finds that there are not many Asian Americans in literature as there are in other career
fields. However, with all these contemplations, Amy majored in English and began writing
fictional stories. Ultimately, she realized that the English language should not be difficult to
read, but be easy to understand as her mother said after reading Amys book, The Joy Luck Club.