"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” is a story by David Sedaris of his time in Paris, France, while taking a French class instructed by a hard-to-take teacher. David talks about his struggles, trying to learn the new language, and the friends he makes along the way by effectively intriguing the audience's sense of humor. The use of English in this essay is very calculated, as Sedaris uses both real and incoherent words, not only to bring out the theme of the story, but also as stylistic devices that bring out his character and that of the other characters involved. The style of writing used by Sedaris in this essay is predisposed to witty, sarcastic, silly, concise, and humorous language that fits well in the story. Anyone who has struggled to learn a new language can totally relate to the struggles the author goes through and his tendency to make fun of the process and himself.
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In this essay, though, Sedaris is seen as an eloquent English speaker. When speaking French, Sedaris speaks in short sentences and one word statements characterized by broken structure and grammar mistakes, while he speaks in complete sentences and naturally in English. This is not only humorous to imagine him trying to directly translate his thoughts, which are in English, to French, but it clearly brings out his struggles in the classroom. Sedaris avoids making the essay all French, as that may exclude readers who are not familiar with the language, but instead puts across a feeling of confusion and the identifiable feeling of displacement that accompanies