Amy Tan – Mother Tongue

English 101 Mother Tongue Amy Tan makes a valid point about the use of different Englishes that are spoken in different places and to certain people. What one says may sometimes vary based on the person, situation, or event as well. How one speaks and what they pick up on happens in the home and other people see them differently based on the way they speak. Different languages become difficult to translate as well because there isn’t always a similar word in the translating language. Many people can relate to this story in the aspect that everyone has their own way of speaking and others’ make them feel inferior with their speech.Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may downsize the verbally handicapped. This is a great essay that relates well to this day and time. Tan relates to her own experiences to compare how people think and to how society sees them. She believed her mother to be illiterate because she spoke improper or bro ken English and other people looked down on her for it. She was laughed at and often times not taken seriously because, being an immigrant with a strong Asian background, her English wasn’t as proper as others.Amy Tan grew up taking calls for her mother and impersonating her on the phone so her mother did not sound so illiterate while trying to communicate with superiors or people who owed her money. This strategy was soon found out however, when Mrs. Tan had to speak to these people in person. Amy believed, â€Å"her [mother’s] English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect†¦ People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretend not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her. (142) Society has the need to be perfect and if someone speaks imperfectly, then they are often treated unfairly. Langu ages spoken in the home and often picked up at school threw peers. The house is the base for learning. Amy Tan came from an immigrant family where no one knew how to speak proper English. This in turn, made it hard to learn the correct way of speaking especially when learning. The first step of speaking the proper way is to recognize how everyone else speaks as well as the way they react to what is said to them.Once someone recognizes that there is a difference in the way they speak, in comparison to the rest of society, and how they are treated, they become aware of how they can change their English. They must first start by paying attention to people around them; how they act and react to the way things are said to them. Different englishes vary based on environments’. When someone is at work, they have a particular way in which they talk to different people; consumers, superiors, and fellow co-workers.While changing to a different situation; at home, one would probably not talk to their parents the same way that they would ague with a sibling. School seems to be the safe place to speak one’s mind, with their peers of course. Speaking to teachers would also differ from being with friends or speaking with strangers. Englishes vary based on group or environment because the people who are being spoken to need to be able to fully understand what is spoken. Amy and her mother experienced this as well. She states, â€Å"Some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says.Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother’s tongue. † (141) Growing up with her mother, Amy became accustomed to the way her mother spoke, everyone interprets a languages differently based on their own perspective. Amy Tan believes that with growing up in an immigrant household and her mother being her role model, speaking broken English in the home negatively impacted her academically. I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. I do think that the language spoken in the family plays a large role in shaping the language of the child† (143) Tan claims that her I. Q. and S. A. T scores where hindered by improper English in the household. What Amy states makes sense in the aspect that everyone learns to speak the language they where raised with. Peers influence your speech, but your home life defines it. When you hear a language all your life, it becomes the way you speak as well.When one grows up with a language, they don’t think to question it. Need of improvement does not even become an idea until you connect that the way you speak reflects the way you speak to a point. The use of different Englishes is so natural that few people are aware of any change in our language, but it has beco me so natural for people to alter their speech in a way that is comfortable for everyone and so that it can be better understood. Our vocabulary and ideas change to better suit any given environment and differs for all groups of people as well; peers, family, superiors, and clients.The environment one grows up in begins shaping the language of each individual in the household. It becomes second nature and many people do not become aware of differences in speech until a later age. Speaking differently from other people can be a rough challenge and no one deserves to feel inferior because they are different. Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may degrade these people which should not be socially accepted. This is an easy essay to relate to when you can observe the way others interact with each other.

Historiographical essay ( the New Deal) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Historiographical ( the New Deal) - Essay Example F.D.R won the presidency and embarked on the New Deal.1 The First New Deal took place between 1933 and 1934 and was criticized for not bringing the recovery Roosevelt promised the Americans. A section of Roosevelt’s First New Deal critics described the programs as ‘socialist’. The Second New Deal programs were launched in 1935. The most notable programs of the Second New Deal revolved around Social Security and were thought to be more reasonable and realistic than those of the First New Deal. Roosevelt won the 1936 elections by a landslide, ensuring that the majority of the New Deal programs continued being in place. The programs were faced with missteps and setbacks until national recovery was achieved in the late 1930s, just in time to pave way for military preparations ahead of the Second World War. Scholars and historians of different times wrote books detailing the New Deal. They agreed on some things about the New Deal, but disagreed on others. The differences in views on and perceptions about the New Deal resulted from the different mindsets shaped by the different times the books were published. Richard Hofstadter is the architect of the consensus school of thought on issues surrounding the New Deal and the Great Depression. He alongside other consensus historians believed that that the American past was largely shaped by unity which implies things like homogeneity, shared national interest and stability. In his book, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR (1955), he described the New Deal to be more of a reaction of an economic emergency than a clear framework for reform. He said the New Deal was very different from the progressive era reforms, meaning Roosevelt was very different from the progressive era reformers. He said that whereas the New Deal was not based on any cle ar reform philosophies, but were

Are maritime transportation loosing out its competitive advantage over Essay

Are maritime transportation loosing out its competitive advantage over other modes of transportation like air and road transportation Justify your views - Essay Example The existence of maritime routes or in other words the fact that regular itineraries are existent is said to be the concept of maritime transportation.1 There have been quite a few technological transformation which have had the potential of affecting water transports, the most recent one is that of the modification of water canals, increasing the size as well as the automation and specialization of vessels. However it has been noted that the increase in maritime traffic has had the consequences of major ecological disasters.2 It needs to be pointed that the bulk of circulation that takes place through maritime transportation is limited along coast line and further three continents have limited fluvial trade. The majority of maritime infrastructure requires a huge maintenance cost for the modification of waterways or investments on the expansion of capacities of ports, which is very expensive and on the other hand takes a lot of space.3 It needs to be pointed out at this point that not every country has direct access to the ocean, these countries are better known as the maritime enclave that is they have difficulties in undertaking maritime trade since they are not part of what is called the domain of maritime circulation. So it requires agreements between neighboring countries to have access to the facilities of port via road, rail line or any other possible alternative. It is important to keep in mind that the countries which are enclave are not excluded from international trade or in other words it can not be implied that they can not take part in international trade, but the problem that they face are that they face higher costs which might lead to weakening of economic development.4 It has been proved that due to the establishment of commercial linkage between continents, maritime transport has been able to sustain a substantial amount of traffic which covers approximately 90% of intercontinental transport demand of

What are the social benefits of using lie detectors Research Paper

What are the social benefits of using lie detectors - Research Paper Example The danger of using lie detector is that innocent people will be mistakenly pronounced as being guilty since the test only measures physiological responses. Such responses may be caused by a number of emotions, for instance, fear and anger of which guilt is only one. The device has an equally unacceptable rate of falsely accusing innocent people. One question that is emerging is that; how reliable are the polygraph tests? Cheating is human. There has never been, nor ever be, an honest society. So long as human beings lack the means to quantify lies or weigh hypocrisies, there is no need of any individual or society, supposing that any other society is more dishonest than another. Various culture of the world can be distinguished on the basis of how it copes with deceit, the types of lies it denounces, the type of institutions it fashions to expose the deceits(Messer and Jones, p 108). The lie detector and its used have been great in the modern society. The instrument has become one of the greatest projects of the twentieth century, aiming at improving the effort to transform the central moral question of our collective life and how to fashion a just society. The instrument also drew its legitimization from two noble half-truths about our political life which states that: democracy depends on transparency in public life and that justice depends on equal treatment for all persons. As a society based on the political principles rather than a common history or shared kinship, the modern society has decided to resolve social conflicts with public rules regardless of any other factors taking place behind the scenes. Social rules are often in conflict and the society is quick to justify them in the name of science. Science, in itself, is considered as the least arbitrary and the most transparent form of rule making. This has led to the treatment of deceit and

Views on Education by Washington and Du Bois Essay

Views on Education by Washington and Du Bois - Essay Example However, many had argued on what type of education the newly freed African American people will need in the course of their lifetime. This question has given rise to the argument on the advantages and disadvantages of industrial education. With this on hand, the Industrial Education for the Negro by Booker T. Washington and On the Training of Black Men and A Negro Schoolmaster by W. E. B. Du Bois will be used to cite the advantages and disadvantages of industrial and liberal education. Booker T. Washington was one of the African Americans who were the slaves in the South. For this reason, he wrote the essay Industrial Education for the Negro. In the time that they were given their freedom, he immediately and strongly supported the industrial education for African Americans especially in the South. He believed that for an African American to live a strong and fruitful life in American soil, he or she must learn to work and earn for a living. In this manner, he had considered all types of employment as an honorable job, even doing the laundry and doing the dishes. In the process of industrial education, an African American student will be able to place his or her self in the American society and will be able to work and not be worked in the process. The learning in this type of education is necessary in order to be sufficient and skilled in the chosen industrial field. The ability to learn how to handle tools and incorporate these learning with mathematics and scienc es will allow the work to be more sophisticated, efficient, and easy. In amalgamating industrial education with mathematics, languages, letters, and sciences, a student, who will also be a future employee, will be harnessed and strengthened and will eventually be equipped for real life. It will open a door for the African American to the world of business and commerce. Washington also cited that he considered that the African Americans are capable of learning higher education and are free to achieve such education. However, he also wants to see his fellow African Americans to be able to use their â€Å"mental strengths† (Washington 357) in accomplishing daily practical activities and work. He also added that incorporating industrial education to the learning of African American students will allow them to pay for their own schooling and earn from their activities. Furthermore, he strongly believed that industrial education will not only equip African Americans in the light of industrial employments, but will also inculcate in their lives the habit to save and love their work, business, and economy they are a part of. Along with these values will also grow the individual’s moral values and religious foundation, which Washington considers supplemental values in order to appreciate and enjoy life, art, and literature. In the light of liberal education, W. E. B. Du Bois cited in his essays, On the Training of Black Men and a Negro Schoolmaster, that industrial education is essential, but it must not be the only type of education African Americans must be given. He believed that African Americans, considered as free men, must be given the chance to mold themselves into leaders that will soon rise and lead the nation. As a graduate of BA in Fisk University and PhD at Harvard University, he strongly believed that the African American youth must be given equal learning with the White in terms of arts, politics, philosophy, and other branches of knowledge . In this way, they will be raised as strong, committed, and well-educated leaders. He believed that education is not only a medium in order to teach a person to work and earn for a living, but it is the key to mold laborers to men and women in society. Working for a living

Open Source Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Open Source - Essay Example e accounts and financial records of such businesses, with the aim of determining how well the organizations are run, and how accurate the financial records of the business are prepared and stored. In an accounting and auditing environment, there is a variety of software that requires to be applied. While some of those software are tailor-made specifically for the accounting purposes, others are general purpose software, which can also be applied by other computer users, to undertake various activities that are not related to accounting. The basic software that must be applied in an accounting and auditing environment are the Windows XP operating system and the Microsoft office suit (Amushie, 12). These software provides the basis for which the computer is operated, and the basis for which records are made and kept, for the operating system and the Microsoft office suit, respectively. It is through the Windows XP operating system that an interface is created in the computer, through which the user of the computer can navigate variously. On the other hand, the Microsoft office suit comprises of various applications such as the Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Acces s, which are programs that are used to prepare and store records, while also being applied to undertake various arithmetic functions, especially for the Microsoft Excel (Grauer and Maryann, 33). Both the Microsoft Office suit and the Windows XP are found in different versions of software. There are some versions of both Microsoft Office suit that are proprietary and others that are open source. Similarly, Windows XP operating system has some of its versions that are proprietary and others which are open source. While the Windows XP Service Pack 3 is a proprietary software, the Windows XP ReactOSÂ ® is a version of the windows XP operating system that is open source (Gross, 9). Similarly, Microsoft office suite has Microsoft Office 2007 as a proprietary software, and another version called the

Ethic code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethic code - Essay Example One particular aspect of the code concentrates upon the rights of individual employees to report possible abuses of power and perhaps unethical actions without fear of reprisal. This protection of whistle-blowers. An interesting aspect of the code is that it does not only provide general principles and goals, but also actual examples of what acceptable and unacceptable behavior might be. Thus dealing with the issues of privacy of information, "The identity of customers and potential customers and their personal, business and financial information" (savings, 2006), and for insider information,: This is a very useful method of communicating an ethics code. Employees need to have both general principles of ethical standards and actual examples. If employees do not know whether an act is or is not ethical then tension may occur, and employees may become too worried about what they are doing rather than their job performance. Everyone must avoid any action or situation that conflicts with the interests of the Company or its customers, or which gives the appearance of a conflict. The appearance of a conflict can at times be as damaging as an actual conflict, and can diminish the valuable relationships we have developed with others. The idea that a company and its employees must appear to be e... The appearance of a conflict can at times be as damaging as an actual conflict, and can diminish the valuable relationships we have developed with others. (savings, 2006) The idea that a company and its employees must appear to be ethical as well as actually acting ethically may seem self-evident, but as recent corporate scandals have shown it must be constantly repeated. The Code of Ethics is excellent, but there is some room for improvement. Specific kinds of ethics related to different positions and jobs within the hierarchy might have been included. Thus the Code might have stated ethics that apply to corporate leaders and also to entry level employees. Are they the same kind of ethics or different ___________________________________________ Works