Not all people who speak the English language speak it the same way. It is very rare to find two people who speak exactly the same English because there are so many different forms of the language. This is the argument that Amy Tan makes in her short story “Mother Tongue.” Tan uses pathos to describe to her audience how through her experiences with her mother and the Chinese language she came to understand who she wanted to be and how she wanted to write. In “Mother Tongue,” Tan talks about the many ways the language she was taught influenced her life. Throughout the story, she describes her relationship with her mother, who speaks “broken” English, and how her perception of language has changed because of her mother. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Whenever Tan was younger, she always felt ashamed and ashamed of the way her mother spoke because it often sounded strange and many people who didn't know her way of speaking found it very difficult to understand her. Tan described that every time she and her mother went to a store or restaurant they were not treated like someone who spoke “proper” English. She said that people “did not take her seriously, did her no good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her” (Tan 765). As a result, Tan had to pretend to be her mother and would have to call people to yell at them while her mother stood behind her and pushed her. The language created a barrier between Tan and his mother, but as Tan grew up, he came to embrace this “fractured” English because it was a sense of home. He no longer saw an imperfection in his mother's language, but comfort, as she had become part of his family. In the essay “Mother Tongue,” Tan discusses the power of language. He writes, “it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth” (763). One of the main points of his story was that words are more than just words; sometimes you have to look behind them and read in between to understand their true meaning. For example, his mother didn't speak perfect English, but the points and ideas she tried to convey were what was truly important. Amy Tan also believed that standardized tests could not accurately determine a person's intelligence. She effectively supports her argument using rhetorical devices such as: "I wanted to capture what language ability tests could never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech, and the nature of her thoughts." " (Tan 768) . When he said that standardized tests cannot determine a person's true intelligence, he was trying to say that people have different ways of thinking and different types of intelligence, yet these standardized tests can only measure a certain type of intelligence; so it's really unfair, for lack of a better term. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Overall, the main idea of ​​Tan's story is to point out that just because someone doesn't speak English perfectly doesn't make them any less intelligent than someone who was born in this country and understands and speaks fluent English. 'English. Tan has judged and been judged based on her language and seen her mother disrespected because of the way she speaks, but these experiences have shaped her entire outlook on life. Through his essay, Tan wanted to send a powerful message about how we should see people from their beautiful side and not from their flaws. Everyone has a message to say, it could be.