Erik Ramirez 1234 Miner Lane El Paso, Texas 79902

Mrs. Amy Tan 6161 Writing Drive Los Angeles, California 82458 January 29, 2014 Dear Mrs. Tan,

I recently read your work Mother Tongue and it was such a great piece. It was so interesting because there are many aspects of your life I can relate to. It helped me see the way us minorities are typically stereotyped that I really had not noticed before but does really exist. Although we are not of the same race, many of the problems you went through I did as well. Such as when I was a child, I was always around broken English. You see, most of my Family is from Mexico and is used to speaking Spanish. So through the years as English became tougher and tougher, I was really not growing with it so I struggled a little bit. I was not horrible but I was not by all means one of the best. I especially struggled with the word analogies that you talk about in your story. I can also relate to the fact that you were always better at Science and Math and always got As and was always in the ninetieth percentile in standardized testing. Every time I left the comfort of my border town, were almost everyone was Mexican and spoke Spanish, and went up north I was often greeted with ugly remarks. Sometimes my family and I were treated with horrible service at restaurants all because the color of our skin. I can imagine all the things you went through. This story did leave me with some questions about the story though. In what way were you steered away by your teachers from English? I really also wonder what made you pursue a degree in English? Was it just to prove every wrong or did you really have a love for the English language and in writing. Lastly, did you ever try speaking to your mom with a higher and higher vocabulary or did your guys conversations always only include broken English. There is one important question I really do have though, is there really such thing as broken or fractured English? I mean I would not label it as that. You say the conversations you have with your mom and husband are full of imagery and even intimacy. When I have conversations with my grandma they too are filled with English that you would call broken. It might not be

grammatically correct but you sure understand what she is saying and I feel that is the point of Language. Others may not be used to her form of English but then again every ones English is different on the different parts of America. Thank you for sharing your story. I am glad I took the time to read it, and it is definitely a story I will be sharing with my friends and family in the future.

Sincerely, Erik Ramirez