”Me talk pretty one day” is an essay written by David Sedaris in 2005. It tells the story of the authors return to school at the age of forty-one and about his experience with learning French in Paris with a very strict teacher. The theme of the essay is David Sedaris attitude towards learning a new language.
Although he seems to have an attitude towards learning French he actually moves all the way to France with only one month of French lessons as his previous experience with the language because he does not think that he can learn proper French in America. Throughout the essay you can almost hear the author’s ironic and sarcastic voice. He creates an ironic tone to the whole experience of learning the language which gives the essay some humor. The language in the essay is very informal which is supported by him talking about own experiences. He uses a lot of imagery and has a tendency to exaggerate his experiences. For example: “it’s everyone into the language pool, sink or swim” (p. 1, l. 16). This gives the reader some lifelike pictures of the situation. He also gives the reader the feeling that they are there with him by using sentences as: “’Even a fiuscrzsa ticiwelmun knows that a typewriter is feminine” (p. 2, l. 72). He gives the reader the whole experience of him learning the language. He does not know the words and he makes it easier for the reader to identify with him. His attitude towards learning the language changes throughout the essay. He starts by being positive but after his first lesson he feels terrified. Even though he is the oldest one there, the teacher makes sure that there is no segregation. The teacher is very strict and does not care to give the students a hard time. “Before beginning school, there’d been no shutting me up, but now I was convinced that everything I said was wrong” (p. 3, l. 101). This shows us that he is so afraid of the teacher that he does not dare to use the advantage that he