Accent in Progress

Note for the first part of this comic: < > marks indicate the characters are speaking French:

Today marks Rachel Gogel’s and my one month anniversary in Paris—and I have never been more grateful for the years I spent in middle school, high school, and college learning French.

Shoutout to my extremely shy eighth grade self who was terrified of speaking, mainly because she knew how to say nothing useful…including how to ask to take a shower when staying with her host family. She would have been absolutely mortified to have said “do ass” instead of “get in line.” (In my defense, “cul” does sound EXTREMELY similar to how an American or British person would say “queue.”)

As someone who is a perfectionist and an introvert, conversation has always been the most challenging and nerve-wracking part of language learning for me. So I’m trying hard to lean into that weak area, to laugh when I make a silly mistake…and to revel in every single compliment on my accent.

À la prochaine / until next time!