Week 7 Revision Process PDF

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The article I selected is 'Me Talk Pretty One Day' By: David Sedaris. The story tells about when the author moved to Paris to learn French and the difficult time he had with it. No matter how hard he tried for the teacher it just wasn't good enough. The article's main claim of the difficulty of learning a new language is well argued because the author states throughout the entire article his struggles with learning French, he used his personal journey in French class as the story, and he followed all the way through till the end when he understood a few sentences in French. The author suspected that everyone was expected to already know the language. Sedaris writes “THE FIRST DAY OF class was nerve-racking, because I knew I’d be expected to perform. That’s the way they do it here-everyone in the language pool, sink or swim.” (paragraph 4). This shows that learning to a new language is difficult and that even the first day of class was 'nerveracking'. I agree that the first day of class is nerve-racking, but I disagree that it's a sink or swim situation. I think the author was just using his humor and being a little over dramatic with those words. When I first read this story and saw the line 'language pool, sink or swim' I imagined a pool in the middle of the class room that the teacher would push the students into when they messed up on a word. Sedaris jokes about everyone working together on making it hard for him to learn French. Sedaris states “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.” (paragraph 21). This shows that even going out of the classroom and into the city the language is still difficult to learn. Sedaris uses humor with this as he states that the 'entire population was in on it' as to saying that everyone was planning this all along. I agree that learning a new language does 'involve a long and intensive period of hazing' meaning there will be a lot of things in the beginning you will not understand till you learn. I believe the author made his point with this line that learning a new language is difficult. Even though you may not think you have learned anything from the tactics that are being used to teach you, you may realize at a strange moment that you have learned what you were being taught. Sedaris discovers that he learned to understand French but, yet to speak it. As Sedaris discovered he could understand the teacher he states “Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it.” (paragraph 29). This statement shows that even though Sedaris went through the class this long he hasn't learned everything. As his teacher was talking to him he realized he could understand her. I agree with his point that it takes one step at a time, and for him understanding was his first accomplishment. When Sedaris realized he could understand French but he still couldn't speak it I thought was a main point of the story. In essence from the first day of class to Sedaris understanding his teacher he takes us through and shows us the difficulties of learning a new language. The author's key points basically point out that learning a new language is difficult. It states that if you push forward you will succeed. Also no matter how hard something is don't let that stop you from reaching your goal. As Sedaris goes through the story even from the beginning on the first day of class he explains how learning to speak French is difficult. He uses humor almost all the way throughout this entire piece which keeps it interesting and on point at the same time. On one occasion when his teacher is speaking to him he writes in gibberish because he doesn't understand her and it just fits

with the story. To me this was a very humorous and insightful story....