In "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan, how is Tan's use of authentic Chinese language significant in the story?

In reading "A Pair of Tickets," it could be argued that
the authentic use of the Chinese language lends itself to the authenticity of the
story.

However, I believe that it is more than this;
because Amy Tan’s story focuses so closely on the theme of West meets East in the person
of Jing-mei and her family, these small words used throughout the story provide subtle
links between the foreign world of China and the heritage within Jing-mei that lies
covered over waiting to be recognized and "set free," and Jing-mei's life in the United
States.

As Jing-mei comes to see herself as Chinese (though
she has rejected this for many years), the steps she takes toward this "awakening" of
self are small and placed carefully, slowly through the story, mirroring the little
connections these Chinese words ultimately make for Jing-mei. The words are always
presented in Chinese and then translated into English, thereby making a small connection
between all things Chinese and Jing-mei's American
upbringing.

The words that Tan uses refer to
specific connections between the
families of the West and East, and
only to the families. When Jing-mei ("June May") arrives at the
airport, her father Canning sees his aunt and says, "Aiyi! Aiyi" meaning "Auntie
Auntie!"

Aiyi refers to Canning as "Syau Yen" (or "Little
Wild Goose"), a childhood name. The names of relatives are translated to show their
significance and their cultural identity: the twins are named Chwun Yu ("Spring Rain")
and Chwun Hwa ("Spring Flower"). While these names are unfamiliar to Jing-mei, they
offer the beauty of the language, and the purposeful intent to name a baby with
significance and pride.  The meanings of these names naturally become a part of each
Chinese "native," while Jing-mei has never realized that names serve as a connection
within a family, or that her own name has significance. Even as an American woman, the
beauty of the Chinese within her name remains potent and
moving.

Jing-mei has meaning: “Jing” means ‘the pure
essence of something, without impurities,’ and “mei" means “younger sister." Her
identity is created at her birth by her mother, who believed that her name will someday
connect her to her older half-sisters, the twins...she will be their essence: also a
connection between the West and the East.

This is not a tie
that Jing-mei had ever been aware of before, though her mother had
for many years—and her mother’s purpose was clear in her own heart from the moment of
Jing-mei's birth: Jing-mei would one day return to China and connect with her
sisters.

In her dreams, Jing-mei uses
the Chinese when first meeting the twins, saying to them: "Jyejye, Jyejye," which means
"Sister Sister." When they do meet, the sisters say to Jing-mei,
"Meimei jandale," or "Little sister has grown up."

The
Chinese phrases and names are little pieces of one culture, flowing into another,
specifically connecting Jing-mei of the West to something of herself that her mother had
predicted would one day come to her: a sense and acceptance of the East—specifically her
Chinese heritage.

This does, in fact, happen as Jing-mei's
mother had hoped, and the use of the Chinese language helps to pull on the strings that
draw these families closer together, allowing Jing-mei one other way to connect to her
family and her heritage.

The words not only serve to
reflect connections within the divided families of East and West, but actually show
Jing-mei another way that these families have crossed oceans to be joined as
one.