Is it necessary to ignore one’s identity while learning to speak English? In Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue” the author talks about her love for languages. The author highlights more about her life experience with her mother in America because of her mother's barrier to the English language. Tan also talks about her mother's humiliation due to broken English and how her mother broken speech affected her life. Tan further talks about the kind of language she speaks to the mother and husband as well as the one she speaks to the public. The author talks about her decision to take English as her major even though she was good in other subjects. Finally, Tan talks about how she became a writer and her love for languages despite the struggles she faced during her school days. In Richard Rodriquez’s essay, “Public and Private Language”, the author talks about a little boy who speaks Spanish as his primary language and struggles with speaking the English language. At school, Rodriquez was shy and timid because of his inability to speak the English language. His teachers had to contact his family at home about his difficulties in speaking English in school and suggested that they speak English at home to reduce their frustrations in school. The family had some difficulties but kept speaking for the sake of their kids. Rodriquez talks about his constant practice of speaking English at home and outside to become better. Rodriquez again talks about his isolation from the family to concentrate on the English language. After that, Rodriquez felt he had the power to speak English in public. From that time, Rodriquez considered himself an American citizen and was excited. ; I believe that one can maintain one’s true identity while learning to speak an “alternative” English (Standard Academic English-SAE); however, the form of English that I learned as my first language is different from SAE.
Some people had the privilege to be born and bred by parents from a rich English background so speaking and writing in Standard Academic English (SAE) is not difficult for them. I am a boy who grew up in Ghana which is one of the African countries. English is not our first language and unfortunately for me, my parents were not educated as well. My parents never spoke English with us at home neither my childhood friends. They always communicate with us using our “local” language known as “Twi”. My elderly sisters who were in school then try to speak little English with us, but nothing gets into my head. They used to tease us with the little English they have gotten in school, especially when food is ready. At age three when I was in school, at kindergarten my class teacher used to play with us using the English language together with our local language. Whenever it gets to the English version, you could see that the class is quiet leaving everything for the teacher to continue. The issue kept on and the teacher got fed up.
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At eight years, I was one of the brilliant students in my class but when it comes to the English language, I was among the underperforming students in class. Our teachers also noticed the situations the students in the school were facing, especially in the English class, since it was not our first language. This situation forced the teachers to use our local language in about 90% of their lessons. All my friends were not educated so I did not have anybody to learn from when I go out. My sisters too come home after vacation. Going to school was quite difficult especially when it comes to an English class, I wish there was no English class then. My classmates used to laugh when a question was raised towards me because they knew I would get it wrong. I was also shy to answer questions in class due to my inability to speak the English language even if I know it. Even though I was dumb in English class, I was the best in all the remaining classes, which encouraged me to continue my education.
It got to a time, I saw that my elder sisters who were good in English do not respect us and I asked myself, am I going to allow this to continue? I decided to be serious with my English language to start learning how to read. I started practicing reading when I was 10 years. I did it with the help of my sisters and some classmates who were better than me. I started attending bible studies in church as well in aid to boost my reading skills. Even though, I was not good at speaking English as my local language but could express myself in English whenever I go. After 2 years of practicing, I became one of the best readers in my class and church. From that time, the embarrassment from my sisters stopped and I was not afraid to go to English class. Later, I began to help my friends who were not good at reading English with the little that I acquired.
Regarding Rodriquez’s ideas of ignoring his identity to learn Standard Academic English, I do not agree with him. Even though it is not easy to stay with friends and family who do not speak English and become better English as quickly as possible, for some people to ignore their identity in the course of learning the English language is not the best for me. He could have spent most of his time outside learning the English language while speaking with his parents in his first language. Also, since his parents cannot speak the English language, keeping his first language can easily influence excellent communication within their family. Sometimes the family may need your assistance when you are not around, and the only thing they can do is to call you, but this is a situation where no one understands each other, how are you going to have effective communication?
On the part of Tan, I agree with her approach to combining her language with the SAE. She saw that, at some point in time, her mother was going through some intimidation and frustrations from some colleague workers and those around her. Her decision to combine the English language with her mother tongue helped her to have a smooth conversation with her family. She was the only person who can help her mother, so ignoring her mother tongue would be a disaster for her mother. She intended to learn the English language to help minimize the embarrassments her mother goes through by interpreting it for the mother when necessary.
After taking a lot of English classes, I can now speak better English. Even though I am not that fluent in the English language, I can express myself well in the English language. My situation is like Tan’s one, I spent much time with my uneducated family and friends so I could not ignore my mother language. I have been using my local language a lot in almost all my conversations since my relatives cannot use the English language properly. I am forced to speak the English language because I am now in a different country and I meet a lot of people with diverse cultural backgrounds. I cannot use my local language at the workplace where my coworkers do not understand. Even though I feel much more comfortable speaking in my mother language than in the English language, I cannot write in my mother language.
I want to be a great writer to help my friends and family in my country who are not good at English in the future. Standard Academic English is the most accepted language in the world. Even in schools, English is the only medium of instruction teachers use, whether the courses are English language or not. You cannot be a prominent person in my country if you cannot speak or write in standard Academic English. I would like to be an English teacher one day to share the experience I had during my school days. I therefore plan to do more English courses this semester and beyond to boast my English writing and speaking ability. In the aid of building my English-speaking skills, I have started listening to English programs and start practicing them. I have now developed much love for English and after my college degree, I will be a better writer as well as fluent in the English language.
In conclusion, it is believed that one can keep one’s original identity in addition to learning an “alternative” English (Standard Academic English -SAE). Language is a tool in communication. Maintaining your mother tongue reveals your identity and outlines your culture. Learning SAE makes one confident and can relate to too many people across the globe. I believe that learning standard academic English together with one’s first language has many advantages over ignoring one’s identity at the expense of learning the English language.
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