genre: memoir
During the pandemic nearly 2.5 years ago, I started studying French again using an app on my phone. I'd taken it for years in school and had enjoyed it but stopped once I wanted to take more music classes. Picking it back up has been a joy and while I still know so very little, I'm enjoying the process. So, when I was digging through a used bookstore on the West Side in New York and I saw this book, I bought it only knowing it had something to do with learning the same language I'd been studying.
It was a fast and interesting read for me. There is both a comedic and scholarly slant, as he tried to really figure out the best way to learn and even if he IS learning. Some of the jokes fell pretty flat for me and sometimes his lack of progress was discouraging (but not unfamiliar so maybe that's just me being triggered). I actually did learn about language acquisition (both first and second languages) and I did have fun recognizing lots of French but in the end I think it helped me decide that gaining fluency is maybe the wrong goal for an adult learner. What for sure is true is that there is joy in just allowing the process to be what it is and to appreciating whatever I can do.
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