Thursday, January 20, 2011

linguistics and dramatics

i know a lot of you weren't around when i explained the depth of my linguistic capabilities. you can click here to read that enlightening bit about an embarrassing moment that almost got me fired. but the point is not that.
the point is that when i am not good at something, i tend to hate on it pretty hardcore. exhibit a) languages that are not english.
i took two years of french in high school and when i was finished i could successfully {in french} ask to go to the bathroom, ask to microwave an apple and a cat, and play a game of go fish. je deteste francais.

but today, over a mocha and red river cereal, i wandered over to
chantelle's blog (one of my very favorites) and decided that i need to be bilingual.
because of this:



forget not making a new years' resolution, here's one: before we get pregnant, i need to learn how to fluently speak another language, probably norwegian, and teach my kid it so that he or she will be able to tell me long rambling crazy stories in that language.
plus, i hope he or she's as dramatic as amyschmamey's daughter, who wrote this great piece of literature.

i'm thinking today's a great day for being extra dramatic about every little thing.
plus, we almost have a windchill of fifty below today. so. i'm going to be dramatically cold for sure.

9 comments:

la petite lydia said...

I love that video. It is so precious. I am actually learning French and hope to teach it to my kids when I have kids...so that won't be for awhile.

Chantelle said...

I took French in high school too and all I remember is my favorite word to say "civilization" which, in french, sounds like "see-vee-lee-zah-see-own" :) fun, huh. :)

Gale said...

that video was adorable and that child is such an imaginative story teller! i hope to learn a language too that i can teach my kids someday. btw, that story of the nice knees was hilarious! I'm sure you can laugh now about it hehe :)

Mrs. Wilson said...

I hate French as well. GAH. I took it for 8 years and learned next to nothing. BUT. Bilingual kids? IS THERE ANYTHING CUTER????

Kayla said...

Everything about this post makes me happy. I took French in Junior High, and my only real memory of it is that my teacher looked like an Ogre, and the cute boy in my class and I had a written conversation loosely about cheese, because fromage was my favorite word.

amyschmamey said...

ha ha ha ha! This is awesome! I suck at foreign language. It's a shame. I hate on it too. But you can learn it. You can. And you too will have a kid that tells you awesome rambling stories in another language... which would be awesome, but if not, I'm sure you could have a kid that is imaginative and dramatic to write you melodramatic letters about sleeping under the bed. It's definitely possible!

JTay said...

I once went to the ballet (Peter Pan) and sat behind a delightful little family (and beside a rotten little boy), and the little girl in that family had pretty blonde curls and spoke in the sweetest British accent. I decided that I need to have a little girl one day, and that I will take her to the ballet, and that until she is 5 or 6 I will speak in a British accent in hopes that she will too. You may want to consider this option, as it does not require learning a new language.

Holly Knitlightly said...

Man, I took French from grade 1 to grade 9, and what can I do? Count to 100. MAYBE. I mentioned that at Christmastime to my boyfriend's mom and we tried to count to 100... it was tough. So, I think maybe 30 is my limit. plus I can sing the alphabet. But seriously, it's SAD. Maybe I'll pick up some words while I'm in France. HA!

I love Capucine. I hope I run into her while I'm there. She's ADORABLE.

suzy said...

lydia: good job. maybe i won't need to learn it then, YOU can teach my kids. :)

chantelle: haha, isn't it sad how much time seemingly goes into this and then you forget it all? lame.

gale: haha, yes, i can laugh about it now. i did then too. (i didn't reeeeally care too much about that job.)

mrs. wilson: i submit that there is not. can you imagine your girls saying the things they do in french? my WORD.

kayla: flirting during class? tsk tsk tsk. shame shame shame. :)

amyschmamey: i sure hope i have dramatic kid. is there anything i can do to ensure that happens?

justine: THE SOLUTION. of course. the accent thing would be waaaay easier than learning a whole new accent. i can do a decent new zealand one from watching so much fotc, so.

holly: i'm sure going to france will at least help? maybe it will revive in you words that you only THINK you've forgotten but haven't really. perhaps.