Education And Communication

People use their languages to communicate, negotiate and express their feelings with others. Languages of individuals are elements of culture that contribute to every aspect of their

relationships. People represent and idetify themselves through their languages and find what they will recreate themsleves through their languages. For people who can speak other than their first languages, they choose their languages to convey their thoughts or feelings depending on audiences who they communicate and negotiate. People rememeber what language to use from their histories or memories, which are their abilities to remember things from the past. ÐŽoMonkey BridgeÐŽ± by Lan Cao, ÐŽoMother TongueÐŽ± by Amy Tan, and ÐŽoLost in TranslationÐŽ± by Eva Hoffman show how they negotiate with their uses of language and determine the boundaries of memory and history. Perception of language gives ability to identify individual, to determine the boundaries of the memory and the history, and to make sense of identity that will recreate. Therefore, people should care their history along with their memory to communicate and to negotiate with others using proper language.

People are able to find their identities when they speak a language. Because people tend to communicate with others, they use right language that conveys their way of thinking. People recognize what they truly are and where they stand for when they speak a language. According to ÐŽoMonkey BridgeÐŽ±, Lan Cao depicts how languages can be connected with history and how it can distinguish peopleЎЇs identities. Mai shows her position as an "outsider with inside information" (212) affords her some critical distance from both American depiction of the Vietnamese and the traditions and habits of Little Saigon. Mai finds herself by generational division and cultural distance offers the mother some comfort that her family karma may finally be escaped. From ÐŽoMother TongueÐŽ±, Amy Tan quotes, ÐŽoI had to get on the phone and say in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, ÐŽoThis is Mrs. TanÐŽ±.ÐŽ±(411) Because her mother speaks broken English that limits explaining her situation, Amy has to pretend to be like her and to speak perfect English in front of indocile people. Pretending to be like Mrs. Tan, Amy learns what to do in certain situations and it helps to form her identity. According to ÐŽoLost in TranslationÐŽ±, Eva Hoffman describes how she finds herself in new society. After she tells a joke to new friends who do not understand it at all, she says, ÐŽoLaughter is the lightning rod of play, the eroticism of conversation; for now, IЎЇve lost the ability to make the sparks fly.ÐŽ±(417) To her, joking is another language. She cannot use a joke that she used before in her new society. Due to the misfit, she realizes her identity that does not fit to new culture. Languages are not only used for communication, but they also help people to find their identities and characteristics in which they stand for in their everyday lives.

Memory and history lead people to negotiate with their different uses of language. People use certain language with certain people. For instance, I use polite language to older people; however, I use broken language with my friends, such as grammatically incorrect sentences, inappropriate pronunciation, and so on. The speaker should speak in right language so that the audience can understand it. From ÐŽoMonkey BridgeÐŽ±, the mother uses more stinging language to her daughter than language she uses in her diary. Mai says, ÐŽoI never knew she had a whole separate language of her own until after she died.ÐŽ± (255) Because the mother does not want Mai to know the truth, the history of her family, she has to use language with prudence. She negotiates her uses of language along with her memory and history. From ÐŽoMother TongueÐŽ±, The daughter, Amy Tan says to her mother ÐŽoNot waste money that way.ÐŽ±(410) Even though she can speak English fluently, she speaks broken English with her mother. Because of her memory, the broken language is used as just another language of intimacy. It is not just about the language itself, but also about the cultural background, history and heritage. Eva Hoffman depicts the lost of translation according to her diary. She says, ÐŽoThe Diary is about me and not about me at all.ÐŽ±(419) Because she uses English, the public language, to write her diary, the diary cannot be written what she wanted to be like and be indicated who she truly is. She negotiates with new audiences, people who use public language, and she tries to translate as it is into her diary by her memory and history of new society. People negotiate their conflicts with their memories of personal history and public history. Memory can give people a clue what to do in certain circumstances depending on who the audiences are. The boundaries of memory and history give people an idea how and what language to choose to talk to other people. Process of using a language leads people to adapt not only to another language but also a new culture and society.

People can be either recreated or limited their perception of themselves by languages. For example, languages can make individuals to be isolated from community but also bind individuals into a community. According to ÐŽoMonkey BridgeÐŽ±, the translation from Vietnamese into English makes Mai to understand her mother in other perception. Mai says, ÐŽoIn my dream, it would make it up a second time, with my mother leading the way, step by step, into perfection.ÐŽ± (259) Mai finally recreates perception of her mother and herself by comprehending the motherЎЇs diary. Mai translates the diary and therefore translates her mother as a person by understanding the language. The diary lets the reader understand the history. From ÐŽoMother TongueÐŽ±, Amy Tan says, ÐŽoHer language as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things,

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