Being a deaf person, I know very well how not many of us (deaf people) excel in the English language for it is not our first and primary language. We express ourselves with our language, ASL (American Sign Language), which has entirely different grammar structure than the English language. Some, not all, struggle to understand the grammar rules of the English language so our English doesn’t always come out right. When that happens, it does not mean we are illiterate. Some of us are not proficient in English but are able to show our expressive, intellectual side in ASL effortlessly.
Amy Tan, who wrote Mother Tongue (Lunsford, 2008), describes how her family is not American but Chinese, which means English is not their first language. Her mother speaks “watered down” English but is proficient in her native tongue. Words will come out wrong in English but the context is logical, and she understands written English with no trouble. Not being fluent in the English language brought out discrimination from others. Some individuals will judge intelligence based on a person’s ability to speak or understand a certain language, in this case, English.
Tan argues with fact and reasoning, also with emotion. She has to deal with the discrimination her mother gets, head-on, watching her get put down but once she, the daughter, who speaks perfect English, speaks for her mother then everything is fine all of the sudden. For example, the doctor losing the important CAT scan and lazily promises it will be found later. When Tan speaks to the doctor for her mother, in perfect English, the doctor magically insists the CAT scan will be found in no time and offers his sincerest apologies. This made me feel frustrated, because the mother is still a perfectly normal human being despite her not-so-perfect English.
Tan’s fact and reasoning has to do with achievement tests, IQ tests, etc. Determining a person’s level of understanding English is difficult because it is not like Math, which strictly follows formulas and ends up with one solid answer. English is flexible and can be used in many ways and the tests are not able to verify all of them. Being adept in English or not does not determine a person’s capability or intelligence whatsoever.
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It is tough to have to use a different language rather than your native one to communicate. We are all in this together.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. Our theory is a bit similiar. Sometimes communicating in various types of language is tough, but in retrospect: some people might look at you while your talking in your form of language and not understand anything you said. It's a two way-street for not just you and me, but for everyone else who has a different native tongue than others.
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