Amy Tan elaborates on her experiences with languages and becoming an Asian writer in her essay, “Mother Tongue”. A language is a form of expressing yourself, sharing ideas or beliefs, and is part of who you are. Amy Tan titles this essay “Mother Tongue” because of how she grew to learn to accept her mother’s imperfect English. Even though not everyone could understand what her mother was trying to say at times, she could. Amy Tan looked at it as a way for her mother to express herself and created a strong connection with her mother’s form of English. We learned about her experiences as a child growing up with a mother who did not speak perfect English. I myself was one of those children who had to speak on behalf of my Spanish mother. I learned at a very young age how to speak to adults, how to translate words from Spanish to English quickly, and how to understand what message my mother was trying to send. Just like Tan, I saw how people discriminated against my mother because of her struggles with speaking English. When I was very young I saw retail workers, government officials, nurses, doctors, etc, all stray away from helping my mother simply because they did not want to deal with trying to understand what she was saying. Today, I help my mother out with everything because I know how much she struggles with the language barrier. Even if no one she talks to in English comprehends what she is saying, I understand her imperfect English perfectly.