Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure chinese. but to me, my mother’s english is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. it’s my mother tongue. her language, as i hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. that was the language that shape the way i saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. how does tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt? tan describes her friends’ understanding of her mother to support the idea that nonstandard forms of english should only be used in the home. tan uses numerical data to support the idea that nonstandard forms of english are on the decline and being replaced by one standard form. tan tells a story about her mother’s life to support the idea that learning the language of a new country comes naturally to most people. tan discusses her mother’s english to support the idea that the language of one’s childhood is a person’s deepest, truest form of expression.

ludwig van beethoven (/ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt(h)oʊvən/ (about this soundlisten); german: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːthoːfn̩] (about this soundlisten); baptised 17 december 1770[1] – 26 march 1827) was a german composer and pianist. a crucial figure in the transition between the classical and romantic eras in classical music, he remains one of the most recognized and influential of all composers. his best-known compositions include 9 symphonies; 5 piano concertos; 1 violin concerto; 32 piano sonatas; 16 string quartets; a mass, the missa solemnis; and an opera,

fidelio. his career as a composer is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late periods; the "early" period is typically seen to last until 1802, the "middle" period from 1802 to 1812, and the "late" period from 1812 to his death in 1827.

beethoven was born in bonn, then the capital of the electorate of cologne and part of the holy roman empire. he displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father johann van beethoven and composer and conductor christian gottlob neefe. at the age of 21 he moved to vienna, where he began studying composition with joseph haydn and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. he lived in vienna until his death.

by his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. in 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life, commonly known as his "late" period.

the anwser is went creeping down the river again, across the wide lonely marshes to the sea.

i longed to go with them out into the world to seek my fortune in foreign lands—africa, india, china and peru!

and, dreaming of the lands i had never seen, i'd sit on there, watching till they were out of sight.

what are you asking?