“Me Talk Pretty One Day”

Jasmine Eaddy

Southern New Hampshire University

“Me talk pretty one day”

The author of “Me talk pretty someday” is a 41-year-old who decided to enroll to a school in France to study French. According to my analysis, the narration is a claim of the hardships he went through while in France. He claims that he moved to Paris with the hopes of learning French. Nevertheless, he claims that his experience from the first day of class was nerve recking. First, the teacher was very harsh and means and second, he did not know how to speak French correctly. In my view, the author claims that learning French for a beginner can be difficult and requires understanding from the teacher. The language barrier can also become a big challenge when trying to learn a new language. It requires a lot of patience before one can finally learn a foreign language.

The author speaks about his experience with his French teacher. He had gone to France to learn French. As someone who knew little French, he had a rough time with his teacher. He also had a rough time in France since everyone spoke French, yet he did not know how to speak. The author wants people to understand the challenges of learning a new language and the effects of the language barrier. Despite the challenges and hardships he went through, he knew that he would perfect his French one day. His classmates encouraged him, “Much work, and someday you talk pretty.” Since he came to France to learn French, he knew that he needed just a little patience, and with time he would be able to speak perfect French.

The key points that the author uses to support their claim are the character of their French teacher. The teacher is barely understanding and mean. Even though most students are new to the language, the teacher is harsh to the point that the author is worried about whether he will ever get to understand the language. The teacher would mock and ridicule students, but the students had no power over her. For instance, one time, he poked a Korean student in the eye with a sharp pencil. Though she did not mean to poke the student, she was arrogant and did not take time to apologize to the student. This is a key point that shows how hard the experience was with their teacher. This is evident that indeed the learning environment was not conducive for him and the students. It portrayed the evil character of the teacher that the author had to deal with while in class. Another key point is when he says, “Sometimes me cry alone at night.” This indicates that the situation was indeed tough on him to the point he was affected emotionally. He always cried, wishing it would get better one day. This is a key point that the situation was challenging [that the author could not help but cry alone at night. It supports his claim of the challenging and overwhelming situation that he had to deal with because of the language barrier and mean teacher.

In my view, the target audience is people who are going through challenging situations in pursuit of their goals. The author tries to pass the message that it may not always be easy, but if one wants to achieve their goals, they must trust the process. He decided to connect with the target audience using his personal experiences. He gives real-life examples of what he went through while learning French. From the examples of his experiences, he portrays that indeed the going was tough while in France. He even states, “Unlike the French class I had taken in New York, where there was no sense of competition”. Nevertheless, the author chooses to have hope that things will be better. He says he takes comfort in the knowledge that he is not alone, and one day he will speak French well. This way, he connects with his audience by providing a mechanism to deal with their situations, which is to have hope and press on.

There are a lot of evidence and key points that best support the author’s claim. He narrates how the teacher belittled and abused him when he assigned the wrong gender to a typewriter and floor waxer on one encounter he had with his French teacher. The language barrier gave him a hard time in France. The evidence of this is that he pretended to be deaf when asked questions, and when his phone rang, he ignored it. All these evidence and key points are enough evidence of the claims the author made. He claimed that learning a new language may come with many challenges. The language barrier is also a significant disadvantage, especially when one is in a foreign country where people speak their foreign language. In my view, the author’s claim is a strong one. The evidence and key points he provides indicate a strong claim as they effectively support the claim.