"Yes And No"

“Yes and No” by Amy Tan talks about how people tend to interpret language outside of their own completely wrong. While reading a new paper article, she begins to get “fired up” about the author perspective on Chinese people and their language. What brings her into what I call “rage” is how the article reinforced prejudice about her culture .The article found in the New York Times Magazine, stated that Chinese language doesn’t even have words for “yes” and “no”. She feels that article makes the readers think that all Chinese are discreet and modest. Like Amy Tan I also believe this idea comes from the misunderstanding of the Chinese way of thinking in contrast to the western way of thinking. She goes on to explain that it’s not that the Chinese never say no or yes, but base on their speech patterns. Chinese people tend to try not to display strong dislike or like for something. Where as the American thinking tells us to be bold and clear with our likes nor dislike. I think that the conflict starts with the fact that language is very complicated and hard for outside to understand the minds of a given culture: Just like Amy Tan said: Something enormous is always lost in translation. Something insidious seeps in to the gaps, especially when amateur linguists continue to compare, one-for-one, language differences and then put forth notions wide open to misinterpretation

For me the most interesting point of the stories is the struggle to fusion ,then separate her two identities .This seems to be a familiar theme in the Amy Tan books I have read so far. Tan goes on to explain that languages, is not just a tool for communication, it also embodied with the culture and the point of view of people who speak it. She believes that different languages come with different thinking and claims that when she is thinking like an American she with speak like and American ,and vice versa with Chinese thinking. She said: “one’s perception of the world and how one functions in it depends a great deal on the language used” (Tan ). Since she was raised in a Chinese speaking family and living in America, she found that she is a kind of “two minds” due to richness of her linguistic experiences. She found she was forced to speak modest and polite when she speaks in Chinese. Amy Tan seems to be caught between both cultures. Language can come to impact and define an entire life or even an entire culture.

Being a Christian I often word what language if any at all does God speak and hear in.
And does his listen ear change depending on the speaker?
What language should a bilingual person pray in order to have his or her preys answered?