Amy Tan – Mother Tongue

English 101 Mother Tongue Amy Tan makes a valid point about the use of different Englishes that are spoken in different places and to certain people. What one says may sometimes vary based on the person, situation, or event as well. How one speaks and what they pick up on happens in the home and other people see them differently based on the way they speak. Different languages become difficult to translate as well because there isn’t always a similar word in the translating language. Many people can relate to this story in the aspect that everyone has their own way of speaking and others’ make them feel inferior with their speech.Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may downsize the verbally handicapped. This is a great essay that relates well to this day and time. Tan relates to her own experiences to compare how people think and to how society sees them. She believed her mother to be illiterate because she spoke improper or bro ken English and other people looked down on her for it. She was laughed at and often times not taken seriously because, being an immigrant with a strong Asian background, her English wasn’t as proper as others.Amy Tan grew up taking calls for her mother and impersonating her on the phone so her mother did not sound so illiterate while trying to communicate with superiors or people who owed her money. This strategy was soon found out however, when Mrs. Tan had to speak to these people in person. Amy believed, â€Å"her [mother’s] English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect†¦ People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretend not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her. (142) Society has the need to be perfect and if someone speaks imperfectly, then they are often treated unfairly. Langu ages spoken in the home and often picked up at school threw peers. The house is the base for learning. Amy Tan came from an immigrant family where no one knew how to speak proper English. This in turn, made it hard to learn the correct way of speaking especially when learning. The first step of speaking the proper way is to recognize how everyone else speaks as well as the way they react to what is said to them.Once someone recognizes that there is a difference in the way they speak, in comparison to the rest of society, and how they are treated, they become aware of how they can change their English. They must first start by paying attention to people around them; how they act and react to the way things are said to them. Different englishes vary based on environments’. When someone is at work, they have a particular way in which they talk to different people; consumers, superiors, and fellow co-workers.While changing to a different situation; at home, one would probably not talk to their parents the same way that they would ague with a sibling. School seems to be the safe place to speak one’s mind, with their peers of course. Speaking to teachers would also differ from being with friends or speaking with strangers. Englishes vary based on group or environment because the people who are being spoken to need to be able to fully understand what is spoken. Amy and her mother experienced this as well. She states, â€Å"Some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says.Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother’s tongue. † (141) Growing up with her mother, Amy became accustomed to the way her mother spoke, everyone interprets a languages differently based on their own perspective. Amy Tan believes that with growing up in an immigrant household and her mother being her role model, speaking broken English in the home negatively impacted her academically. I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. I do think that the language spoken in the family plays a large role in shaping the language of the child† (143) Tan claims that her I. Q. and S. A. T scores where hindered by improper English in the household. What Amy states makes sense in the aspect that everyone learns to speak the language they where raised with. Peers influence your speech, but your home life defines it. When you hear a language all your life, it becomes the way you speak as well.When one grows up with a language, they don’t think to question it. Need of improvement does not even become an idea until you connect that the way you speak reflects the way you speak to a point. The use of different Englishes is so natural that few people are aware of any change in our language, but it has beco me so natural for people to alter their speech in a way that is comfortable for everyone and so that it can be better understood. Our vocabulary and ideas change to better suit any given environment and differs for all groups of people as well; peers, family, superiors, and clients.The environment one grows up in begins shaping the language of each individual in the household. It becomes second nature and many people do not become aware of differences in speech until a later age. Speaking differently from other people can be a rough challenge and no one deserves to feel inferior because they are different. Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may degrade these people which should not be socially accepted. This is an easy essay to relate to when you can observe the way others interact with each other.

Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 27

Questions - Essay Example 2. Notice our lecture begins the SWOT analysis in Chapter 3 with the external environment –  an environmental scan of the opportunities and threats. The internal analysis begins in the next lecture –  Chapter 4. Why is that? Why do you begin your SWOT analysis externally, not internally? The external analysis is more important than the internal analysis for a number of reasons. The external environment analysis takes into account non-controllable factors that affect the company but which the company cannot control. If the company does not take them into consideration, they could affect the very operations of the company. An internal analysis, on the other hand, only seeks to address issues within the company- meaning that these are concerns that the company is in a position to control. 3. As a corporate â€Å"strategic planning†Ã‚  resource, is it better to have assets or competencies. Give an example †¦Ã‚  a different one than your classmates’  examples. And, do not say â€Å"both† or â€Å"it depends.† Pick one and explain it. Strategic assets are basically a corporation’s own resources. Core competencies, on the other hand, refer to a company’s best capabilities. In essence, strategic assets are worthless until they are converted into products that can be used by the company’s customers. Competencies are quite important as they can be used by businesses to leverage their strategic resources and generate a unique advantage over business rivals (Rumelt, 2011). Competencies are the more valuable choice. 4. Give an example of a product-market and why it fits the criteria for a product-market. Each student must give a â€Å"different†Ã‚  example –OR– disagree with another student’s example explaining why the disagreement. One input per student, please. A "product market" refers to the distinct society demographic to which a business targets its newly created products. For instance, a new range of age defying

Reflection Paper ( Business Ethics for Leaders ) Case Study

Reflection Paper ( Business Ethics for Leaders ) - Case Study Example In the given case of Pinto Fires, the questions have been answered in a broader context. There are possibilities that some of the steps of decision making process may not be incorporated directly, but it will be ensured that their core essence remains implicit while reaching at the conclusion. In my personal opinion, the philosophical approach adopted by recall coordinator in his recommendation to continue with the production of the Pinto is Relativism. According to this ethical theory, it is not necessary that moral values of one person must coincide with the moral values of the other person. A particular instance may be ethically valued to a particular person but it does not mean that the other person should agree with that decision. In this particular case of Pinto Fires, what recall coordinator and Ford company thought was totally related to their own interest. As part of the company policy, Ford needed to launch such a model in automobile industry which could perform better than competitor’s models in terms of market share, competition and profitability. The element which was not a concerning issue to Ford, was the safety measures for its users. Having car accidents in the country is not something for which the company can be accused liable; neither it’s a worrisome issue for automobile companies. Normally drivers of cars are found guilty of negligence while driving car in a reckless manner. Since it is a normal practice for an automobile company to launch a model which is free of any fault, but that was not the case with Ford’s newly launched model, Pinto. At the time of crash testing eight out of eleven units of the Pinto went through deadly destructions. Despite of being aware of this shocking fault in the fuel tank of Pinto, yet the company decided to commence its commercial production. Since safety was not the top most priority of the company, it resulted in heavy destructions of the cars, increment in number of accidents, and above all the

Brand Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brand Management - Essay Example (Ehrenberg & Scriven, 1997) Brand users comment that the brand â€Å"tastes nice† than the non-users would say. But a popular brand has more users than a not-so popular brand. Therefore more people say that it â€Å"tastes nice† for popular brands than the not-so popular brands. The belief of â€Å"brands are brands† is supported by many ads, for example, ads create ‘attention, impact, memory traces for the brand’ but not because they are persuasive. Advertisements are used to remind people of the brand, or that such brands are still in existence or leading in the market, but ads are not used to persuade consumers to buy. Brand advertising is a creative way of informing the public but it is made not to persuade customers to buy or differentiate it from other brands. There have been only a few advertisers who do it as a way of persuasive inducements to buy the brand. When Coca-Cola advertises, it demonstrates how refreshing the soft drinks but not made to persuade to buy because it has always been a popular product bought for its refreshing taste. That is the way of publicising or informing its loyal customers. But the customers are knowledgeable people; they already know the taste of Coca-Cola and don’t need to be persuaded to buy because they already are loyal customers. An example of advertising as publicity is when a firm announces new innovations – a price cut or a new brand. But most of the time, advertisements are about issues which the ad elaborates and that the public already knows. Known brands such as Coca-Cola or Nike advertise some information to millions, even billions, of consumers around the world and yet the consumers already know what the advertisements mean. This form of advertisement is known as standard advertisement; meaning it is the same advertisement in any country. The belief that advertising is a form of persuasion is very common in the United States advertising

Journal Responce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal Responce - Essay Example King supports the argument stating that civil disobedience is one of the main tools used by historical figures and nations to protect and justify their rights and freedom. "There is nothing new about this kind of disobedience" (p.5). Stating a thesis, King uses historical information to attract listeners attention at once. The author shows that Americans should be free from segregation and racial discrimination using direct actions, because "freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor" (p.3). The argument is aimed to persuade and convince its audience of the truth of his statement explaining that non-violent civil disobedience have deep historical roots and closely connected with human rights movements. King attempts to persuade listeners that all people are equal and racial discrimination is based on unjust laws which should be eliminated. King uses definitional arguments to explain just and unjust laws. He explains that segregation laws are unjust laws: "Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all" (p.4). These arguments are crucial for the speech because they explain to unprepared listeners principles and social rules of a free society and equal rights. Definitional arguments help listeners to grasp the idea at once and inform them about legal rules and principles of social justice. It

Discuss the strategic roles of middle managers Assignment

Discuss the strategic roles of middle managers - Assignment Example The paper will also discuss participation in strategy making from a middle level management perspective. Main body In their study, Currie and Proctor (2005) concur with the literature that argues that organizational performance is mainly influenced by what takes place in the middle of the organization than what happens at the top. Based on the work of Floyd and Wooldridge (1992, 1994, 1997, 2000), Currie and Proctor (2005) argue that middle managers have a significant role to play in the ‘thinking’ as well as ‘doing’ of strategy in the organization. The middle managers can actually influence the direction of strategy from top to bottom or bottom to top. According to Currie and Proctor (2005), middle managers play four significant roles in strategic decisions in the organization. First, they synthesise information about the operations of the organisation which can be channelled upwards to the executives and can be used in strategy formulation. Second, the mid dle managers can reshape the strategies formulated by the executives since they are closer to all activities that occur in the organization. Thirdly, the middle managers can also exert downward influence especially in areas that are outside the reach of the executives. The fourth point is that middle managers are responsible for implementing deliberate strategy where they translate corporate strategy into action plans. Thus, it can be noted that from the middle management perspective, the middle managers have important strategic roles to make in an organization. Without middle managers, it may be difficult to achieve consistency in the performance of the organization. Raes et al (2011, p. 102) also suggest that â€Å"the interaction of the top management team (TMT) and middle managers (MMs) is central to effective strategy formulation and implementation.† It can be argued that the middle managers are at the center of all activities in the organization. For instance, they dire ctly link with the top executives and the supervisors and other subordinates below them. This makes then significant in strategy formulation. They provide useful ideas to the executives which can be incorporated in the organization’s strategies and they also interpret these strategies to their subordinates. This makes them a bridging stone in the formulation and implementation of various strategies in the organization. The other important element is that the middle managers are directly responsible for the operations of the organization hence the reason why they are so important in strategic decision making and implementation in a particular organization. Wooldridge, Schmid & Floyd (2008) also concur with the notion that the middle managers are central to explaining key organizational outcomes from what they call a â€Å"middle management perspective.† There are several motivations have been described in the literature as the basis for a middle management perspective ( Floyd & Wooldridge, 2000, as cited in Wooldridge, Schmid & Floyd, 2008). The middle managers for instance play an intermediary role and they serve as important interfaces disconnected parties in the organizations. For instance, there is no direct interaction between the subordinates in the organization and the senior executives. However, the middle managers bridge this gap through top and down communication to these disconnected actors in the organization. Therefore, to a larger extent, it can be observed that the middle

Option 1 Amadeus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Option 1 Amadeus - Essay Example In his confession, Salieri describes how his professional jealousy led him to force Mozart to write his own requiem mass, which Salieri intended to steal from him and present to the world as own musical work (Amadeus, 1984/2002). Salieri also describes how the fateful turn of events lead Mozart to die, his requiem mass unfinished, along with the murderous plot of Salieri for Mozart also imcomplete (Amadeus, 1984/2002). This writer chose this film for analysis, because the music of this film is inextricably connected with the central plot and its unfolding. This kind of a film on a musical genius could not have been possibly made without incorporating his musical works into the film. Every crucial dramatic moment in the film is linked to what these two musicians were doing in the field of music. Hence this film is a rare instance where the plot and music tracks merge inseparably into each other. It is music that generates the theme of this film, leads it to its climax and gives it a sense of purpose. The film opens with the Symphony no.25 in G Minor, K.183 composed by Mozart, as the opening credits are displayed. The calling of the name, ‘Mozart’, in the opening sequence has a timing that fits rhythmically into the accompanying musical bit (Amadeus, 1984/2002). The composer, Salieri is seen trying to commit suicide and being taken to the hospital when the symphony plays on, but not continuously- there are dramatic breaks that let the dramatic events to unfold. And after this symphony stops, there is the noises of the crowd, which reminds one of the cheering crowds inside a musical theatre after a concert. But then the visuals show that it was the noises inside a mental asylum. Here, it can be seen that the music suggests what is going to happen, prepares for the forthcoming shock, mourns the tragic events, but yet withdraws at the crucial moment as if it is lea st bothered. This