Post by alula on Nov 9, 2006 5:05:18 GMT -5
This has been driving me crazy lately, but out of the books I've read recently (around the 100-mark), several of the chapter two descriptions (I always skim to check out Claudia and Stacey's fab clothes) have said something like, "Claudia feels her family doesn't really understand her artistic spirit. Her true soulmate in the family was her grandmother Mimi, even though Mimi only spoke broken English (she emigrated from Japan)."
But to me, it seems like Mimi's English is perfectly good in the books before she has the stroke and in Claudia and Mary Anne's portrait collections. I don't remember if it said she spoke with an accent (which the vast majority of people who learn a second language after about age 12 do--there's a psychology term for it, but I forget). But her grammar and usage is perfectly fine, to my recollection--she has trouble with speech after the stroke, not because she's an immigrant, right?
I don't know why this bugs me so much more than other inconsistencies, but it actually made me mad, especially when I saw it almost exactly repeated in more than one book. Well, besides the fact that it sort of implies it's wild and crazy to have a deep bond with someone who doesn't speak your language perfectly, which is pretty gross, but I think that's more sloppy construction than anything else (I tried to paraphrase the sentences as closely as possible, including the phrase "broken English" and the parenthetical explanation about Mimi emigrating.)
Oh, and I agree that if Ann knew the series' ultimate length, it would have been nice to see Mimi healthy longer--not only because she's so lovely with Mary Anne and Claudia, but because it seems to me that for books about "good girls" the books are pretty short on actually modeling any lengthy positive interaction with adults--the girls are so loath to confide in anyone, even when they're being stalked/stolen from/suspended/stressed. I think "Mary Anne Saves the Day" makes it seem plausible that Mimi might have been sort of a non-parental, non-client adult they might have spoken to more openly (as MA does in that book). I know that some of the absentee parents-stuff is a convention of kidlit (it's a lot harder to have all those adventures when your meanie parents actually pay attention to what you're doing!), but honestly, it's almost easier to just kill 'em off or send the kids to boarding school, a la J.K. Rowling.
But to me, it seems like Mimi's English is perfectly good in the books before she has the stroke and in Claudia and Mary Anne's portrait collections. I don't remember if it said she spoke with an accent (which the vast majority of people who learn a second language after about age 12 do--there's a psychology term for it, but I forget). But her grammar and usage is perfectly fine, to my recollection--she has trouble with speech after the stroke, not because she's an immigrant, right?
I don't know why this bugs me so much more than other inconsistencies, but it actually made me mad, especially when I saw it almost exactly repeated in more than one book. Well, besides the fact that it sort of implies it's wild and crazy to have a deep bond with someone who doesn't speak your language perfectly, which is pretty gross, but I think that's more sloppy construction than anything else (I tried to paraphrase the sentences as closely as possible, including the phrase "broken English" and the parenthetical explanation about Mimi emigrating.)
Oh, and I agree that if Ann knew the series' ultimate length, it would have been nice to see Mimi healthy longer--not only because she's so lovely with Mary Anne and Claudia, but because it seems to me that for books about "good girls" the books are pretty short on actually modeling any lengthy positive interaction with adults--the girls are so loath to confide in anyone, even when they're being stalked/stolen from/suspended/stressed. I think "Mary Anne Saves the Day" makes it seem plausible that Mimi might have been sort of a non-parental, non-client adult they might have spoken to more openly (as MA does in that book). I know that some of the absentee parents-stuff is a convention of kidlit (it's a lot harder to have all those adventures when your meanie parents actually pay attention to what you're doing!), but honestly, it's almost easier to just kill 'em off or send the kids to boarding school, a la J.K. Rowling.