COLLAGE: When no one is around I...
What She Knows is an art practice by Lucy Bellwood that prompts you with a daily statement and I am answering in my native language of collage. My previous responses are collected here. The prompt today was:
#9: When no one is around I...
When no one is around I practice French.
I pop in my earbuds and I fire up some audio lesson* and I repeat out loud the most basic French sentences in the most American accent and whenever my attempt at conjugation or grammar matches with the recording I think proudly to myself "You're practically fluent" right before I utterly mangle the next sentence to the point where I'm not even saying any distinct words in any language, I'm just making stuttering grunted sounds.
*I highly, highly recommend using your library app to borrow the Learn French with Paul Noble audiobooks, with the Pimsleur French series a close second. Using Black Friday's sale, I treated myself to the Pimsleur app, which actually evaluates my pronunciation and reports back the words I'm actually saying. Apparently my "veut" is indistinguishable from my "vous", which is incredibly annoying. And, finally, -unfortunately,- I'm afraid I was sucked into Duolingo as well, which is- wow. They really designed that thing to light up the neurons in your brain that compel you to play video and gambling games, didn't they? As of yesterday my free trial of the Super version ran out and I made the self-care decision to return to the ad-riddled, limited-lives Free version so that the intrusive ads and finite turns will force me to take breaks. But I did finish out as the #1 on the leaderboard for a good chunk of my two weeks on the Super free trial 😏
But, I digress.
Ok, right. So. What was my thought process for assembling this image? I flipped through some of my rescue art books until I found The Beach at Trouville by Claude Monet. Now, I honestly didn't pick it because it's a French classic, but because it showed a woman on her own, chillin' out, focusing on her own thoughts and observations- like me! When I'm listening to my French lessons! Now I just had to add something to represent the act of practicing French.
These convoluted golden word balloons show what it feels like to learn another language, with their confusing squiggles of grammar and vocabulary spilling out of my mouth and erupting from my poor brain. It's all a hot mess but at the same time it's still fun and even... pretty (like gold!).
Et, voila!
Peut-être je ne peux pas parler le français très bien, mais this bitch can collage like a motherfucker U_U
À bientôt!
-Erika
Comments (5)
I've had a Super Duolingo subscription a few years now. I have a 1335 day streak. 😄 Up to section 6, unit 36 on French. (with the current system … they keep changing the numbering)
This is so pretty! I love the contrasts and I definitely want to get back to learning French, I miss it so much hahaha. Brain fixing first though.
Mais si c'est très bien ! One day we'll mix your garbled French with my garbled English and we'll have the best time !
😂 I have an idea for a comic series where I illustrate one of my French sentences, post it on Instagram, and invite Francophones to correct my mistakes, then I post the corrected version after that. I’d call it something like “Fix my broken French” but I don’t know how to say that correctly in French 😅 « corrigez-vous mon français cassé » ? I’m sure that doesn’t have the right flow.
I'm also in Duolingo but I managed to join a friend's family account. I'm learning an absurd amount of languages all at once and very slowly, but it's fun. I love the collage! The squiggles definitely fit how my brain processes languages as well