Influence of language - Essay Example

The language was much more formal than she could ever think of making at home. Tan recognizes that scripted English or the English used to address a large group of professionals greatly differs from the language she talks to her loved ones with. Although both are generally recognized as English, yet she is much more careless in the use of tenses, the pronunciation and the selection of words while talking to her husband or her mom than she is while talking to the outsiders. That is indeed true!

Our English at formal gatherings is way different from what we speak in our homes. In fact, the level of formality we maintain in our expression accords with the degree to which a certain occasion is formal. Thus, I am not at all formal while addressing a crowd at a birthday party but I am formal to my utmost capacity while addressing a speech in the school. In Tan’s case, the difference in English was found to be characterized by the difference of relationship she had with people she talked to at different points in time.

This made the English she used while talking to her loved ones, more of a language of intimacy than Standard English language. Tan talks about her mother’s English and discusses it with reference to a passage based on her direct quotes. Tan’s mother’s English in no way, conforms to the formal standards of English grammar. This contrasts with the fact that she is a regular reader and viewer of famous English novels and programs. Yet Tan says that the way her mother spoke helped shape her imagination because her mother made frequent use of imagery in her browbeaten English.

Tan says that people including herself have conventionally tried to judge her mother’s ideas and thoughts by the quality of her language. Since her English was poor, nobody ever took her seriously. In order to make people take her seriously. This is an unfortunate reality of our society and is also a prime