June 11, 2014

Raymundo Apodaca
11641 Eric Payne
El Paso, TX 79936
(915)929-3688

Amy Tan
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53
rd
Streer
New York, NY 10022

Dear Mrs. Tan

First off, I would like to thank you for writing a brilliant story and I am glad that it is required to read in
my English 1311 class at the University of Texas at El Paso. It gave me some insight on how you can use
the English language in a few different ways. There are three major points that peaked my interests. I
strongly agree on the different Englishes that are used to communicate with different people. Secondly,
I dont agree on how you said that your mothers English affected your possibilities in school by limiting
them. Lastly, you go on by constantly describing your mothers English as broken and simple.

I have several different ways of speaking English. For instance, when I speak to elders I will
automatically have respect for them for the fact of them being more senior than me. I will speak in the
most formal and polite way that I can. When I was in the Marines, my ways of communication would
vary. If I was speaking to a peer we would say curse words and not think about how we spoke to each
other. When I speak to my commanding officer I would begin by standing at parade rest, which is my
feet shoulder width apart and my hands behind my back. I will convey my message as intellectually as
possible and end ever phrase with sir.

Saying that your mothers English almost had an effect on limiting your possibilities sounds selfish to me.
You had the freewill to improve on your English. You can always take it upon you to study and try to
diversify your vocabulary and the way you integrate it with your colloquial skills. My fathers English is
very horrible whenever he tries to speak it but I dont blame that on limiting my English. I just didnt
take it upon myself to improve it like I should have.
I think that you could have helped your mother by at least attempting to talk her into improving her
vocabulary skills and sentence structure. You went on and on about her English being broken and
simple and you perfectly recall specific situations that may have ashamed you. All that effort couldve
been used on helping out your mother to develop her colloquial skills.

I think that you could have helped your mother by at least attempting to talk her into improving her
vocabulary skills and sentence structure. You went on and on about her English being broken and
simple and you perfectly recall specific situations that may have ashamed you. All that effort couldve
been used on helping out your mother to develop her colloquial skills. Your story triggered some not so
pleasant feelings on me. Mainly because of the way you described her limiting your possibilities with
English. Ive been in some instances when my father tried speaking some English to get by and he was
treated rudely. That made me want to help them improve their speaking skills. Thank you for your time
Mrs. Tan.


Sincerely,




Raymundo Apodaca