Thursday, November 10, 2011

"Englishes"

Amy Tan writes about the various "Englishes" she has encountered in her life and how access to power in America -- to a stockbroker, to a doctor -- is sometimes affected by one's control over and possession of "proper English." "Proper English" is not what Tan's mother speaks; she speaks what many would call "broken English." The adjective "broken" as attached to "English" suggests that there is a "fixed" or non-broken way to speak the language. What do you think about that, especially after reflecting on Tan's examination of "Englishes" and their various powers?

17 comments:

  1. One can look at language as an art, a science, or a method. To look at it as an art is to analyze it to understand the emotion and connotational messages it conveys to the audience. While as a science, one observes the syntax and diction employed. While as a method, the point comes down to can one convey the meaning to ones audience. "Broken" english is certainly so in a "scientific" manner, it does not follow syntax and grammar in the proper manner, and often it is not pleasing to the senses of so called "natives". In the end, it matters the most whether they can be understood. In effect one only speaks the same language as along as one is understood. Personally I have trouble speaking and being understood, I felt at points like I was speaking french for all the good english does for me (English is my mother tongue, and for that matter my only tongue). I have felt at times as if I had no language to call my own, as I cannot even communicate the spelling of my own last name as my "R" becomes "w" or "O". I notice the longer I have know someone the more they understand my "tongue". In effect I speak a "broken" english, not as a result of upbringing, but of biology. The key is to not be bogged down in your failures, but to try to keep trying and improving, I find that I can speak the same language as others if I have patience, and they have patience with me.

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  2. In American culture, it is considered the duty of the speaker to convey their meaning clearly to their audience, be it a large speach, or one speaking to their stockbroker or doctor. This makes it harder for people like Tan's mother, who speak "broken" English to convey what they are trying to say because they have trouble conveying it clearly for one reason or another. I have encountered this personally. In highschool, I took Japanese classes, where the instructor knew English as a second language, Japanese being her first. This made her difficult to understand at times because of her inflections, sometimes grammar, and the fact that she didn't have a total mastery of the language and English words. The more you were around her though, the easier she was to understand. In learning to understand her, we ended up asking comfirmation questions to confirm we understood what she was saying, because sometimes we didn't. What Tan's mother ran into is with stockbrokers and doctors, they feel they are "better" than her, and won't ask questions of what she is saying. If they don't understand her, they will just ignore her. This is because of the culture, and the person's ego and ignorance. This is also why she found that when Amy Tan talked to them, they would listen, because they wouldn't just throw out what she was saying on account of having to try, even a little, to figure out what she was saying.

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  3. I think what matters most about speech and conversation is not how the ideas are said or phrased; what is important are the ideas themselves. Although, sometimes phrasing thoughts in different ways have varrying degrees of effectiveness, as Tan discovered with her mother's doctor and stockbroker. However, I think it could be argued that each of us speak in a form of "broken" English. None of us speak perfect, proper English all of the time. We do not speak in the same way with our professors as we speak with our friends, and that form of speech differs from how we talk with almost anyone else.
    In my opinion, there should not be only one "fixed" or "correct" way to speak English, but many other people - as demonstrated in Tan's story - believe there is. But, as Tan said, it is the "essence" of the thoughts that matter, not the "structure."

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  4. What I got from Amy Tan's article is that many people do not realize just how different one tends to speak given their surroundings. In the article Amy explains that she realized what many may fail to realize, the fact that they adjust their use of English depending on what group or social setting they are in. In her article she explains that while giving a speech to scholars and peers she uses very proper English with sophisticated and descriptive words that best gets her point across, but while with her mom she tends to use broken English because that is how she has spoken growing up with her mom. From this it can be said that how we use our English it can be used as a tool to better fit in to the environment one finds themselves in at the time.

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  5. Language is developed by people and for people. This seems like an obvious idea, but is often overlooked. What this means is that language changes between generations and cultures to fit the needs of that particular people group. "Broken" English implies that there is a perfect way that needs to be fixed. One of the main problems with this is that it implies that there is only correct version; when, in reality, different versions are used and are even necessary for different situations. Tan addresses this within her essay and explains how she herself uses different "types" of English in everyday life, talking to her mother, and giving lectures. Its important to keep in mind though that language's purpose is to communicate an idea or purpose from one person to another. When someone has "broken" English, we are basically saying that their language is different from our norm and hard to understand. This is something that can be overcome with time and knowledge of the person though. I've found that many times after hearing a certain persons English for a period of time it eventually becomes very clear and understandable, but its always hard to keep listening after the first impression. Its important for our culture to remember the difficulties of non-native speakers and how hard they work at their language skills. Its also important to keep in mind that even if there sentence structure has errors doesn't mean that their intelligence does.

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  6. Proper English is required to get things done, people are seen as less fortunate if the speak "broken" English. However, what most people never realize is that if English is not learned in early childhood, than the sounds and even some of the phrasings never sound like a native speaker. This is seen as a problem but it is not something that can be fixed. The only way I see of fixing it would be for the entire world to speak one language, and only one.

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  7. The thought of proper English has been molded and updated over the passing years. As cultural and cultural dialect have fused together, it is hard to declare what proper English truly is. According to Amy Tan, many fail to realize that people adjust their “English” based on their social group or their social setting. In her article, she describes how she uses “proper” English with sophisticated words to get her point across, but when her environment changes and she is back with her mother, she tends to use “broken” English since that is how she was spoken to as a child. We have a certain dialect for certain occasions. It is when we apply a certain dialect to match the setting we are in, that truly matters. So, one cannot say what is “correct” English and what is not because, in society, as long as the “English” being used corresponds to the environment then who might declare it being “broken” English or “proper” English.

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  8. Command of the English language certainly has an important place in our society. I can sympathize with immigrants who struggle with opposition because of their limited English skills. However, learning the native language of any location is essential in order to truly be assimilated into the culture. As this is true with immigrants who come to America and must learn English, it is also true for Americans who go to live abroad. Americans should give some leeway to recent immigrants as learning a whole new language is difficult for most. That goes with the understanding though that immigrants will put forth the effort to learn English and be included in the greater American community.

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  9. After reading Amy Tan’s essay, it appears as though there are two different forms of English. There is the type used at home and in casual conversation, which allows for a fairly loose usage of grammar and pronunciation. Then there is the much more formal, regulated arrangement used in most situations outside of everyday conversation or writing. While I believe that it is perfectly acceptable, and even necessary, to have both sets of “Englishes” in our culture, it is just as important to know where each case is appropriate. When we form opinions of people based simply off of how well they speak English, we have, in that particular instance, veered too far towards the regulated form of English. So, essentially, I don’t believe that there is a certain “correct” or “broken” form of English; rather, there are different usages of the language that are correct in some circumstances, and incorrect in others.

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  10. English as a language is structured,and does have a series of rules to follow both for sentence structure as well as word pronunciation. Despite this dialects do develop and people tend to speak in a "local" fashion. Based on this we can say that strictly speaking a very large portion of the populace speaks "broken" English. If we are to accept that most people speak some level of broken English then we must also accept that some speak English more poorly, or "more broken" if you will. While the point at which the English becomes so poor that it is unacceptable in society is not clearly defined it is still in existence. If you can not speak English well enough to get the help you need it is because you have crossed the acceptable realm of "as long as the message is relayed the form is inconsequential" and into the realm of unintelligible rambling. You can not expect to get help from someone who does not speak the same language as you, and if your english is very poor then you are basically speaking a different language to people who speak english better than you. Now if i moved to china and i didn't speak chinese i could hardly be offended if they didn't understand me when i made poor attempts at their language so why should it be any different at any other country visited or immigrated to?

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  11. In everyday life you will encounter several different types of english but will still be able to comprehend them and would not call them "broken english," but this does not mean that "broken english" does not exist. I believe that there is a form of english that when spoken only makes sense to a minority of people, but I do not believe that there is a singular "proper english." As with most things there are many paths to the right answer, so there are many "englishes" that one can use to get their point across in a conversation. It is only when a large number of people can not understand what you are saying that you would have "broken english."

    I also think that it is wrong to discriminate against someone who has "broken english" because that does not necessarily reflect their intelligence. Just because someone can not form their sentences in a way that most can not understand does not mean that what they are saying is not scholarly.

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  12. In American culture it has become a very common notion that people need to speak the "language" and speak it well if they are going to live here. While it is true that to maintain certain jobs the English spoken needs to be good enough to be understood by others. Even though someone may not speak "good" English it does not reflect the intelligence of that person. In fact in proves that they are rather intelligent for being able to grasp the concept of a language as difficult as English even though they have not perfected it. Many would agree that learning a language is difficult and to even fathom moving to a different country and learning a completely new language would be a nightmare for most people that continually judge those that speak "broken" English. The focus should be on the substance of speaker's ideas and not how it is presented.

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  13. I personally don't think that anyone speaks "broken" English. The purpose of language is to communicate with others. This communication can take on many forms, but the basic idea is the same. True, the "proper" way to speak English is to adhere to proper grammar, usage, etc. But it is important to remember that the language is only a small part of how we communicate. Body language, inflection, and tone of voice all contribute to the way we communicate with others. Even English itself is extremely varies, what with the variety of regional dialects and accents. Different people speak different forms of English depending on their situation, upbringing, and region. Some people may find it easier to communicate with others by avoiding all of the syntax rules.

    Of course, proper grammar and speech is important in the professional world, because quick and precise communication is key. However, English is itself just communication - one that takes many forms and that has no "right" way.

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  14. The words we choose to use have a direct affect on others perception of us. The words I use now for instance will present me as a brilliant eloquent writer who deserves to pass this class(hopefully). But if I were to write this post the way my younger sister texts people would see me as an incompetent idiot who can't spell or use periods correctly. Her word usage is perfect for talking to her friends but if she wrote an english paper like that then she would be lucky to get a fifty percent. The broken english that Tan's mother uses in another example where when a person is judged on just that you are likely to think less highly of them. People are judged on what we see of them and when all we see is their broken english then we will generally assume that they are not the smartest person and may in fact be stupid

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  15. I found Amy Tan's story rather fascinating. It reminded me of a girl I once knew who was Indian. Despite being quite fluent in English (as well as a few other languages), whenever she was around other Indians, she would rapidly acquire a strong Indian accent, to the point of dialect.
    I agree that the phrase "Broken English" is rather derogatory — but is "Broken English" as valid English, as a means of communication? The reality is, with a stronger American dialect, one could most likely convey more meaning in conversation. However, every language, and every dialect holds with it it's own unique powers. Just as my friend back home found it more easy to communicate using her dialect, so to do others find power in their unique Englishes.

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  16. In a way, most of us speak "broken" English in one way or another, in that we all deviate from so-called Standard English in our speech and most of us do so in our writing. If you look over all the blog posts, you will notice that there are even some posts that end many sentences with ellipses, and there are still some posts with spelling errors. Even more frequent are those sentences with wording that some might describe as "awkward," or unconventional capitalization. And these deviations are just in our writing! When I imagine talking to someone from high school, I don't imagine that conversation without the other person projectile-vomiting the word "like" at least once a sentence. And these are the deviations from the prescribed standard that native speakers make! If there is a fixed way to speak English, I would like to know how to speak in it, but I would not give up the diversity in our language in favor of consistency. I often stuttered as a small child and mostly got over it with speech therapy, but in the process I learned that the surest way to avoid stuttering is to not speak at all, and I shudder a bit to think of the brilliant thoughts that might have come from the people whose English is a bit "broken" to mainstream culture if our culture had but been more friendly to them and their idiosyncracies, even if their variation on English is more difficult to understand than the one we strive to speak in our classes.

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  17. English as language has a definite skill to it. As I can say from a Native American viewpoint my own parents have a "accent" to their english. Certain words they will say with difficulty and pronounce wrong. This is only because my parents are fluent in Jicarilla Apache. It is there own way in how they communicate but it is well enough for others to understand. My mother who is a teacher speaks with body as language as well. We use certain eye contact or even a gesture with our heads when speaking to adults and children. In its own way, english is understood and communicated effectively within the Native American people.
    I've noticed on my own that even I and my own sisters voices change when we our speaking with instructors or conducting business on the phones. Our voices become clearer and more precise in our pronunciation from the "rez speak" which I have titled we speak when we our home. In its own way, English is spoken and empowered just by certain body language and communication settings within the community.

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