LEARN FRENCH
I was rummaging through an old box and found this piece of paper which I find disturbingly funny. For those of you who can’t read it, it’s my French progress report from 9th grade. It’s painfully obvious that I didn’t care much about French 15 years ago. I actually laughed out loud when I read the line- “Kate’s essay failed to meet the minimum requirement and she has yet to re-do it. I have scheduled appointments with her to discuss the essay but, for a variety of reasons she has not kept them.” Don’t you just love it? I couldn’t be bothered to meet with my teacher about my incomplete essay? I must have been soooooooo busy back then. In my defense, I thought my teacher, Monsieur Decker, was a crap. All 4 years we spent together we never got along. I wonder where he is now? Maybe I wouldn’t find him as mean today. Wouldn’t it be funny if I found him to teach me French before I turned 30? Ha.
I do have (positive) news to report regarding French though! I ordered Rosetta Stone tapes. I am convinced that this will be my ticket. I’m feeling very confident. I just needed a little break from French to re-group and re-focus…Saturday French classes with my mother (a surprise type A student) really took it out of me. Kidding, Mom!
365til30.com 
That’s amazing!
I’m a card-carrying francophile now, but back in high school I was such a little snot and I never took french classes seriously. One time I got sent out into the hallway for laughing out loud when my friend was asked, in french, what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was “Je ne care pas.”
Man, how I wish I’d actually bothered to learn something back then. 🙂
That’s hysterical Loni! When I read my progress report I felt the same way- if I only took it seriously back then I wouldn’t have to learn it now! I could be adding Italian instead:)
Kate, my French is pretty good. I was married to a PhD in French for a while. I used to go to France for a full month every summer for many years. Mostly I learned it there, since I only took two years in college. Here’s my distilled wisdom for what it is worth. 1. French is not a code version of English, and there is no such thing as a word for word translation. 2. there are translators free on the internet–take some of your own writing and paste it in and see what happens. some are better than others. 3. Pronunciation is critical, because you can’t understand French if you don’t get the music of it–otherwise the end of one word and the middle of the next are indistinguishable. spend time in the lab if there is one. 4. French people never speak in the simple past tense. One always uses the the verbs to go and to have plus a past participle. Never, I went (except in literature), but always I have gone. 5. slang is fun. There is renver–where kids reverse syllables–like always might be waysall. 6. The French take pride in their language and not as much as the Italians will, but will help you along with your French–sometimes. But like here, people will look at someone different as though they are something less charming than different. Good luck and don’t give up.
Wow David! You have mastered two of my goals! You tango and speak French! Impressed:)
ahhhhhhhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah!! Monsieur Decker!!!!!! Oh jeez… I believe I may have been slightly responsible for some of this progress report and perhaps may have even received a similar one… but… I definetly removed any evidence of a progress report before it arrived. 😉
We had quite a few nicknames for him too, as I recall…
Crystal I am glad you agree about Monsieur Decker!!! SO fun to have these memories with you!!!! xx