This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

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Sarafina
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This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby Sarafina » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:38 pm

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/wil ... -languages
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a1419 ... etty-0399/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006 ... ing-room-2

I found Sedaris experiences with learning foreign languages to be painfully relatable and funny- I laughed out loud so many times. He's an American writer who at the age of 41 decided to learn French at the Alliance Française and he also took some Japanese classes while in Japan and dabbled in other languages. I related so much to some his awful experiences learning French in a classroom. I love how self-deprecating his humour is and I find a lot of what he said to be witty at times.

I'm going to say some of my favourite lines which is literally most of the article. I apologise that it's such a long post. If you relate to any of it, please write a reply to which one bit and if possible elaborate on your experiences.

"Learning French is a lot like joining a gang in that it involves a long and intensive period of hazing. And it wasn't just my teacher; the entire population seemed to be in on it."

Six months after moving to Paris, I gave up on French school and decided to take the easy way out. All I ever said was “Could you repeat that?” And for what? I rarely understood things the second time around, and when I did it was usually something banal,

His French instructor is the worst and the best. She reminds me of one of my French teacher.

"Two Polish Annas raised their hands, and the teacher instructed them to present themselves, giving their names, nationalities, occupations, and a list of things they liked and disliked in this world. The first Anna hailed from an industrial town outside of Warsaw and had front teeth the size of tombstones. She worked as a seamstress, enjoyed quiet times with friends, and hated the mosquito.

"Oh, really," the teacher said. "How very interesting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we've been blessed with someone as unique and original as you? Tell us, please."


This gem is so similar to something my teacher once said to me.
"I hate you," she said to me one afternoon. Her English was flawless. "I really, really hate you." Call me sensitive, but I couldn't help taking it personally.

I managed to mispronounce IBM and afford the wrong gender to both the floor waxer and the typewriter. Her reaction led me to believe that these mistakes were capital crimes in the country of France.

"Were you always this palicmkrexjs?" she asked. "Even a fiuscrzsws tociwegixp knows that a typewriter is feminine."

I absorbed as much of her abuse as I could understand, thinking, but not saying, that I find it ridiculous to assign a gender to an inanimate object incapable of disrobing and making an occasional fool of itself. Why refer to Lady Flesh Wound or Good Sir Dishrag when these things could never deliver in the sack?


This following passage was literally me for the entirety of doing HL French.
My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of my classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards, where, no matter how hard I tried, there was no escaping the feeling of terror I felt whenever anyone asked me a question. I was safe in any kind of a store, as, at least in my neighborhood, one can stand beside the cash register for hours on end without being asked something so trivial as, "May I help you?" or "How would you like to pay for that?"

My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone. Huddled in the smoky hallways and making the most of our pathetic French, my fellow students and I engaged in the sort of conversation commonly overheard in refugee camps.

"Sometimes me cry alone at night."


This scenario was also me in my second year of doing IB HL French.
It was mid-October when the teacher singled me out, saying, "Every day spent with you is like having a cesarean section." And it struck me that, for the first time since arriving in France, I could understand every word that someone was saying.

Understanding doesn't mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It's a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive. The teacher continued her diatribe, and I settled back, bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult.


His experiences of learning Japanese in Japan is just as funny and painful.
This two passage might have well been describing my first term when I did the IB- the daily humiliation in being one of the worst in the class.
"he finds himself barely able to respond to questions or even read aloud from the textbook. “Buying a bottle of shampoo and discovering later that it’s actually baby oil is bad, but at least that’s a private humiliation,” he writes. “This is public, and it hurts everyone around me. Don’t call on David-san, don’t call on David-san, I can feel my classmates thinking.”
He leaves Japanese class “with one goal — to find a secluded place, sit down, and treat myself to a nice long cry,” but the streets of Tokyo offer no such places: “no church to duck into, no park bench hidden in the shadows.”


I like reading his descriptions and experiences Pimsleur, Teach Yourself and Michel Thomas.
Last edited by Sarafina on Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby zenmonkey » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:18 pm

Thank you for sharing Sedaris. He's an author I really enjoy.
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Re: This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby Teango » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:44 pm

It looks like "Me Talk Pretty One Day" will be my next Kindle purchase...
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Re: This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby IronMike » Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:02 am

Teango wrote:It looks like "Me Talk Pretty One Day" will be my next Kindle purchase...

One of my favorite reads. OMG, I almost peed several times.
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Re: This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby brilliantyears » Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:06 am

I'm not American, but I suspect the French teacher struggles are universal :lol: My high school French teachers, both native speakers, regularly threw colourful insults at us as well :D
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Re: This American's struggle of learning foreign languages

Postby tastyonions » Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:12 pm

After reading about so many people's experiences in foreign language classrooms, all I have to say is thank goodness for auto-didactic courses.
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