At Orestimba High School's graduation where the student chose to give his speech in Spanish. The young man launched a barrage of criticism and renewed the debate in the United States over whether non-English languages should be supported beyond intercommunication with members of a given community (Austin 2012)
She also asserts that the exposure to this different form of English had a correlative in her grades in English. This does make sense and is backed by some research that Tan has performed (Tan 1990,-page 79)
Tan's experience indicates the pull between the "traditional" world where she lives and works, and the ethnic world of her mother, which has given her such a rich and varied cultural history, but pulls her in two very different directions. One critic notes, "However, as Tan points out, speaking her mother's version of English gives her bicultural insight and strength, and she sees the beauty and wisdom in her mother's language" (Bloom 84)
Her 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, made sense of the world" (Tan)
"Official English obviously has a lot to do with concern about immigration, perhaps especially Hispanic immigration…The usual arguments made by academics against Official English are commonsensical. Who needs a law when, according to the 1990 census, 94% of American residents speak English anyway?" (King 1997)