To the Josephine Baker Class of 2007, I want to congratulate everyone on their hard work. Many of us have been multi-tasking, trying to get one or even two other majors done during our time here. This takes discipline and some late nights, which I’m sure many of you other seniors have experienced frequently and recently!

To anyone who has learned a foreign language, there is one universal problem: a lack of vocabulary. You start to understand this when you get into a French literature class and see yourself reduced to speaking like a child. “I think the problem be that the narrator say of too much things and uhhhhhh…one think that be annoying.” The long pauses are not dramatic, but used more so to remember words.

So before leaving for France last semester, naturally, I was worried about my speaking abilities and most of all, spending time with a host family having to communicate solely in French. The days that I spent with my host family were a constant reminder of my small vocabulary. My host mother got to be a good reader of my blank stares and would then start to play the synonym game.

“What does “austere” means?” She would reply with “unembellished,” “meager,” “stark,” “basic,” “simple.” “Ahhh yes! ‘Basic,’ ‘simple,’ I know these words!” Needless to say, I learned many words in those few days and my dictionary never left my side.

This in turn reminded me of David Sedaris, the American humorist. Sedaris became famous in the US by writing comical stories of his past and he has become popular with many readers. However, upon Sedaris’ recent move to France, he had to learn French. In his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Sedaris writes about the daily humiliations he goes through while trying to perfect his French at the age of 41.

As Sedaris so hilariously captures, learning another language is an exercise of memory, humiliation, but most of all, patience. Learning another language means that you have the ability to adventure, to risk embarrassment, and the desire to continue learning. Class of 2007, as everyone tells us, learning another language is good for us. Not only for the obvious reasons of expanding our knowledge and being more marketable for jobs, but also it gives us the ability to laugh at oneself and to have new adventures throughout the world.

Learning French and living in France has taught me to improvise, to think differently, to hate grammar even more, but most importantly, it showed me that I could make it. I made it through life in France. Sure it’s another Westernized country, but that does not mean that everything is the same. Take the Easter Bell for example. Au contraire, I found that trips to McDonalds and the grocery store were like cultural visits.

Any of us who have majored in French have ultimately discovered many novel facts about la francophonie. But not only that, we have also discovered new things about ourselves during our time in the URI French department. Are we shy about speaking in French? Do we hate Marcel Proust? Do we still love the language? These questions are important because we constantly reassess ourselves while we mature during our lives. French lets you discover these new characteristics that you never knew you had. Don’t lose this skill! French will keep you current in the job force, but also personally. So to the Josephine Baker Class of 2007, bonne chance!