Response to "Mother Tongue"

I never thought language is so powerful before I read this article. The author's mother was treated badly by others just because of her imperfect English. One of the reason why she always speaks "limit" English I guess is that language changes fast, even faster than we think. It changes from generation to generation. With the developing of Internet and other communication tools, young people try to simplify languages, sometimes we use abbreviations to communicate, like OMG. In China, young people even create new meanings of words. For instance, "thunder" is a noun in Chinese; however, young people sometimes make it act as a verb to express feelings of shock. This can never happen among older generations! That is, if you say ”you thunder me” to your parents, that does not make any sense.
On the other hand, in different situations, people use different ways to say the same thing. Suppose I discuss my course with my advisor and my classmates, I will never use slang while I talk to my advisor. To my classmates, maybe I will say, “This class sucks, I really hate it and I wanna change it.” However, to my advisor, I should show my respect, I may say, “I have trouble in this class, and I really need your help, could you give me some suggestions?” The key is that the more respect we show, the more formal word we use.