Example Of Essay On Living In Two Languages

The story by Amy Tan and that by Jasmin Darznikboth talk about languages. For this reason, they come in handy in helping deduce the importance of language to an individual. Language is one very vital tool for the purposes of communication. According to Amy Tan, language is a way in which one can understand another person. Conversely, every living being has a language that he or she understands clearly. From the point of birth, human beings begin learning a particular language. The language learnt at the time of birth is the language that the person’s guardians speak. This is the mother tongue. “Amy Tan, for example, was limited to her mother’s diction.”As one progresses in life and gets to interact with other people, they start learning other languages that these other people use. In a nutshell, each and every language that exists in this world is a mother tongue to a certain group of people. However, due to continued interaction with other people in the environment, these mother tongues get to be passed to other parties. To the second parties, a new language becomes their secondary language. “Darznik had to learn English when she moved to America and also learn it fast.” It was vital for her to do so as to be able to interact with the new American friends. In a nutshell, therefore, mother tongue is the language that newly born children find their guardians using. It is a person’s first language ever to learn in this world.In the present highly industrialized and civilized world, most people are able to speak more than language. Living in two languages, therefore, not be a cause of trouble, but rather a blessing to the person involved.
Language helps us understand ourselves and the environment around us. This includes the people around us and their cultures in addition to helping us make sound decisions based on this understanding. “The mother tongue of Amy Tan’s mother was the one that helped her understand her culture”. Once in the outside world, away from her mother’s care, she was able to differentiate between the different cultures that she had seen. This resulted to her becoming more knowledgeable on the people around her and also helped her appreciate other cultures more than she would have if she only knew one language. In America, “Darznik yearned to join the men in talking about the Iranian politics and Persian literature which was not the case when she was a child.” This change was brought about by the fact that she could now understand what the men were saying and as a result she would be able to give her opinion on the discussion at hand at will. This was the case as she now had a good masterly in English to the extent that if she went back home people would find it hard to believe she had lived in America for long due to her fluency in the Persian language, her mother tongue. According to Tan, she once gave a speech in English using English that she later explains she could not use with her mother. This shows how being bilingual may be a source of trouble to the bilingual speakers due to the inability to communicate effectively. Tan’s English might have been well polished, but the same could not work for effective communication with the mother. This was a problem that had been brought about by the fact that Tan had learnt a second language which she had perfected to the extent that her mother, who was only perfect at mother tongue, could not understand it.Appreciation of other cultures is a fruit of being multilingual and helps one to appreciate his or her culture.
It is through language that we are able to shape our beliefs. Understanding of several languages opens our minds to many beliefs from which we determine which one to follow. Tan, for example, “used the understanding of her culture system to shape her thinking system.” From this statement, it is clear that Tan made her decisions based on her culture’s beliefs. This is a sign of her adoration for her Chinese culture. She had a choice to embrace the new culture but did not. She is also conscious of her mother when giving her speech, thereby; showing concern for those in her mother tongue language bracket that may not understand her secondary language as well as she does.The way of living of a bilingual person is not at all similar to that of a one language speaker. With more exposure, the bilingual person can integrate several languages, hence cultures, thereby portraying a unique personality. According to Tan, she was conversant with both the Chinese and the American culture. This being the case, she would be able to integrate the two but use the Chinese culture, which was her mother tongue culture, to make decisions. Learning of a different language made Darznik “leave her girlish self and embrace the American culture”. Had she not become acquainted to the American culture through English language, she would not have changed. Bilingual ability leads to the ability to interact with users of different languages thatare advantageous.The fact that one uses their mother culture as a basis for decision making and living in two languages comes in handy in interaction is not mere coincidence. These are some of the luxuries that bilingual speakers can boast of thereby making them be proud of their mother tongue.
The language that one uses as earlier quoted, is the means through which one communicates. Communication, on the other hand, can be used to judge a person. Conversely, language can tell a lot about the person using a different language. Tan is an educated lady. “This is learnt from her use of well-polished English that her mother could not even understand.” There was no need for her to announce of her education level for her language use spoke more about that. Definition of a person by language also includes a person’s culture, therefore, tying language to culture. “Amy’s mother’s mother tongue, for example, helped Amy find her culture root.” This shows that there was some connection between the mother’s mother tongue and culture.
Conclusively, communication is the primary role of language. However, language can also be used to talk more about a certain person. With these facts, a person living in two languages could not lead a struggling life but a life that is full of new experience day in day out. This is because he or she would be able to blend in to the different cultures, reason being, cultures and languages are one and the same.In a nutshell, one faces no struggle if he or she lives in two languages.