In this essay, Sedaris describes to us how he managed to overcome one of the world’s hardest obstacles - learning a second language. To most people, a foreign language sounds like random syllables being bunched together into a load of gibberish. If I came up to you and said, “Bok moje ime je nacrtao,” (Croatian for, “Hi my name is Drew”) I might as well have been saying, “Klattu barada nikto.” However, in this essay Sedaris not only learns to speak French (or at least understand it) but manages to do it while being instructed by a teacher who has a pole that could support the Eiffel tower up her bum.
In the course of the essay we get to see Sedaris learn to deal with the confusion of being spoken to in an unknown language and eventually feel his triumph when he succeeds in learning the language despite his teacher’s best attempts to hinder him. While I can’t even pretend to have had such an evil and judgemental teacher, I can understand the triumph of accomplishing something against all odds. I have a developmental disability which places me on the Autism spectrum. When I was younger I could barely understand my own emotions let alone those of others and the idea of putting them down on a piece of paper was something I could not even begin to fathom. But, I have fought to comprehend the world around me on a higher level and now look at me! I am the self-professed, “King of a Blog” with approximately two followers…WOOHOO!!!
Ultimately, Sedaris conveyed the struggles of learning a second language with humor and wit that conveyed his emotions effectively.
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