Analyse af David Sedaris' 'Me Talk Pretty One Day'

It’s difficult to find yourself at the starting point of learning a new language as you’ll be making a lot of mistakes when learning to pronounce new foreign words. As a result, you might be tempted to give up. But if you want to progress, who will be responsible for your learning and success? A teacher who has an empathic mindset toward students might be helpful, but as David Sedaris illustrates, that may not always be the case, and no matter what, it depends on you, on how you choose to work towards your goal, which means you are responsible for your own success.

The Essay, "Me Talk Pretty One Day", by David Sedaris, 2005, is about what it takes to learn a new language, how you should keep working hard and the result will be your reward. Per definition an essay is an open genre, although what’s written is expected to be the truth. The author expresses thoughts and opinions about a topic and David Sedaris’ essay could be an account of his personal experience. Right from the beginning, what is characteristic of this essay is that throughout the entire paper the tone is humorous. When going back to school David Sedaris is given a student ID, which allows discount entry fees at various theaters and shows, such as “poppets shows” and “amusement” parks aimed at primarily children. The fact that the forty-one year old writer starts off by mentioning this sets the tone as humorous, and contributes to a general feeling of ease as the paper continues. It also highlights the fact that when learning a new language, you might feel as if you were a helpless child as you will be taken out of your comfort zone. David Sedaris goes on to present a dialogue between the teacher and the Polish student who: “…. enjoyed quit times with friends and hate the mosquito”. (p.6. l. 34). In itself this is rather funny as it’s mundane and obviously everyone finds the mosquito annoying. The teacher retorts in a sarcastic manner that she is surprised as she thought everyone in the world loved the insect, and the fact that the Polish lady does not make her “unique” and “interesting”. The result is the polish lady is humiliated by the teacher, but the fact that the tone is dominated by humor makes the reader picture the situation in a less serious way than it really is. Humor plays many functions. It’s a tool which amongst other things awakens the readers interest, underlines ideas, and, as in this case, helps the readers picture the situation. Right from the first impression the teacher is intimidating. When entering the classroom for the first time she: “marched in”, (p.6, l. 17) and is consequently compared to a soldier. This is a powerful image and indicates what’s in store for the students. However, the writer later describes the teacher as a: “saucebox”, which makes the tone lighthearted and amusing. Throughout the text it’s obvious the writer uses humor as a weapon. Additionally, there is a determined tone in the essay as the writer does not give up, instead he spends hours studying and there is a personal development. The author’s position is that before moving to France he has studied French, and assumed he would have sufficient knowledge about the culture and language, which indicates he is self-confident. Though, on the first day at school he describes feeling: ”intimated”, by the other class mates who seem to speak excellent French. This makes him feel insecure. As the following quote illustrates the culture is different, as it’s: “everybody into the language pool, sink or swim”. (p. 6, l. 16) This means if you want to learn to speak France it demands you get on with it and do the work. The writer is determined to reach his goal. As it says: “four hours a night on my homework, putting in even more time whenever we were assigned an essay. I suppose I could have gotten by with less, but I was determined to create some sort of identity for myself: David the hard worker….” (p.8, l. 89). This quote is evidence that he perseveres. He might be partly driven by fear of the teacher’s cruel remarks, or decide to use her in a constructive way, but as it says at the end: “the world opened up”, (p. 8, l. 127) which means the result of his hard work is his French improves and it shows that the determination pays off. Even the teacher’s harsh remarks do not stop him from feeling elated and help highlight the two main themes, which are the Relationship Between Teacher And Student, and How To Achieve Your Goals. The essay has a surprising ending as you might not think the students will be will be able to survive in that kind of environment. The group of students consist of people of various ethnic minorities. What they have in common is they want to learn a new language as well as the fact that they all try to adjust to a foreign culture, but they are belittled by the teacher from hell. With her over-critical remarks, the teacher soon makes the whole class feel useless. She makes fun of the students when she makes silly made up words such as "Were you always this palicmkrexis?”.(p.2,l. 71) This shows that she is unsensitive as what she is really says is, were you always this stupid? Her teaching methods are old-fashion and heartless but as the following quote illustrates: “My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone.” (p. 8, l. 105), the result of the unusual teaching methods is the class feels as if they find common ground and thus learning a new language is also about breaking down barriers. The title, "Me Talk Pretty One Day”, is significant because, as well as being funny, it highlights the fact that it takes time to learn, as “one day”, is not today, but sometime in the future. It’s possible David Sedaris’ message is that a teacher who lacks empathy should not be your excuse as to why you fail at learning a new language, and if you want to progress, you should keep working hard, because at the end of the day, you are responsible for your own success.