Throughout life, it may be examined that amongst varied species of organisms, there will always be a few who are singled out due to varied differences. For example, there was a study about how lizards that adopted the same hues as their environment survived against their predatory species, whereas lizards of vivid colors were ultimately, depleted from their environment. This process is more commonly known as natural selection. However, one might wonder if the same theory applies to social situations, or if it is rather, a naturalistic fallacy. Which is to say, is this theory actually justified? This is what I will be examining in reference to David Sedaris’ essay, “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” through connections of my own personal experiences. In “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” Sedaris describes his experience learning French in Paris at the age of forty-one under the rule of his tyrannical professor. Though it was his first time seriously studying French, his professor certainly does not cease to point out his amateurism. Like Sedaris, I have experienced similar situations, in that I have been tossed into foreign environments to learn new languages under unforgiving circumstances.
I would like to think that I was born and raised in Taiwan, but in all actuality, I was only born there. Shortly after I was born, my mother decided that it was in our best interest to move to America with my father, of Danish heritage, who was at the time, taking leave from the U.S. National Guard to study both modern and ancient Asian politics, culture and linguistics. He studied in Taiwan for about ten years, and before that, he had studied in Hong Kong, China, Korea, and Japan. Incidentally, my mother grew up in the countryside of Taiwan and ran away to the city at the age of fifteen to start her own life and escape the rural atmosphere. Fate brought them together later on in their lives, when both of their careers were just blossoming. Of course, my