In Amy Tan's piece, "Mother Tongue", she describes in great detail the discrimination her mother bore due to her lesser grasp of the English language and how much it impacted the both of their lives. One particularly powerful example she uses in her article is an incident where Tan's mother's CAT scan results were withheld from her due to her perceived lesser grasp of English. I found this incident to be particularly disgusting. I, for one, do not understand how discrimination of such a level still exists in this multicultural world we live in. In a world where everyone is connected and everyone is communicating internationally, it is dumb to treat another differently due to their grasp on your language. In no way is one's grasp of a second language a gauge in which intelligence can be measured, and this is abundantly clear in the case of Mother Tan. Despite her appearances, Mother Tan reads the Forbes Report, is an avid listener of Wall Street Week. Her intelligence is ignored and "hidden" by her grasp on the English language. These prejudices based off the grasp of a second language again simply dumb. In a world like ours, where no one isn't connected, it is incredibly important to be able to communicate efficiently, well and with as many people as possible. Bilingualism is needed in this world and it is again dumb to not acknowledge any of the intelligence, flexibility and knowledge that bilinguals possess.
56% of the population of Europe is bilingual and in fact 91% of the Dutch population are bilingual. With such an incredible percentage of people bilingual, it is again dumb to assume that the percentage of bilinguals that do have a lesser grasp on their second language, as stupid or incapable of assuming roles in modern society. Bilingualism, despite early beliefs that bilingual children would struggle to concentrate with both languages knocking about their heads, bilingualism greatly improves intelligence. For example, bilingualism wards off dementia. Bilingual children are proven to do better in school, specifically in problem solving elements of mathematics.
So why? Why assume so much from a sample of a person's character? For many, the excuse is that a person's dictation of language is a clear window into their character and their life. How does this apply to those who speak two languages? How is it reasonable to base all of our assumptions simply on their grasp on their second language? The phrase, "don't judge a book by its cover", rings true here.
This was an overall well-written opinion column, however there are some points that I would like to touch on; first, there are some words (such as "dumb") that are repeated which can disrupt the flow of the reader, and secondly, the flow can also be quite abrupt if there are no transition words. In terms of how the opinion column treated the chosen topic, it was a great insight into how (in a world that is interconnected) there is no point in being close-minded towards other dialects and cultures due to what is now a global community. However, I do have one question: Why touch on bilingualism if the topic is mainly about discrimination?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, great job! I especially liked the use of sophisticated language and the organization of ideas.
I would also like to state that the opinion column does match the conventions of that type of writing as there is much use of personal pronouns, as well as rhetorical questions in order to ask the reader to question their own understanding.
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