Response:
Code-switching reflects a shift in communication style based on the conversation partner. For instance, you would speak differently to a teacher than to your friends. In Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” readers are presented with two distinct forms of English—Tan’s flawless American English contrasted with her mother’s limited and at times unclear English.
Despite being educated in the United States and proficient in Standard English, Tan occasionally code switches to a different variant—a more personal form of English she reserves for conversations with her mother or husband:
I found myself conscious of the type of English I was using with her. While discussing furniture prices, I noticed myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was also present, yet he didn’t detect any change in my English. Then I recognized why. Over the two decades we’ve been together, I’ve often communicated in that same dialect with him, and he sometimes responds in kind. It evolved to become our language of intimacy, a unique English associated with family conversations, the language of my upbringing.
Another example of code-switching occurs when Tan translates her mother's “broken” English into perfect English for others:
My mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, "Why he don't send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money."
Then I replied in flawless English on the phone, "Yes, I'm getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived."
Tan’s mother’s English, though limited and grammatically flawed, is easily understandable to Tan, enabling her to interpret for the outside world. This skill, nurtured through her mother’s “impeccable broken English,” kept her connected to their Chinese heritage and also informed her development as a writer:
I began writing stories that reflected all the different English dialects I grew up with... My goal was to capture the nuances that language assessment tests often overlook: her intentions, emotions, imagery, speech patterns, and thought processes.
plato
