Je vais apprendre à parler français pour que je puisse acheter assez choses que j'ai pas besoin.

So excited! Got just what I wanted for Christmas- Rosetta Stone in French!

Ever since visiting Paris two years ago, I've been obsessed with all things French- especially Versailles (click here to read my post about Versailles), Marie Antoinette and Napoleon & Josephine Bonaparte. I've read many books, watched movies and dvr'd many Discovery/History Channel programs. We even celebrated our first anniversary in St. Martin, on the French side of course (a surprise gift from my hubby)! It was a taste of France with gorgeous, white sand between our toes.

I do have one beef with Paris though. And I say Paris only because that's where we visited and because I've been assured from others who have traveled throughout France that Parisians stand alone in this. Parisians are notoriously, how should I put this... a bit snooty when it comes to Americans. On the one hand I get it. Americans are notorious for traveling abroad and then complaining that everything is not like it is in the U.S. or expecting that everyone speaks English, without even trying to learn a few phrases to get around. We were, sorry to say, guilty of this. But there is also the other side. The side where we, as Americans, aren't just rude or dismissive to tourists who don't speak English (I'd like to think so anyway). We have the decency to try and help people out. If a tourist who clearly does not speak English, say a Chinese tourist, stops us and asks for help we don't just stare at them and walk away or brush them off. Most of us would (again I hope this is true) do the best we could to help them. Going through the obligatory hand gesture dance along with a raised voice and slowed annunciation of our words, hoping that this somehow translates into Mandarin or Cantonese and makes them understand. But I digress...

Since our last visit I have vowed to learn to speak French so that I may someday go back and be able to at the minimum order a meal and at best barter for fabulous vintage goods that I don't need at the Parisian flea markets.

So far I've gotten through two lessons that were about 10 minutes each. I have to say that I think it's going well and that the method they use- repetition, matching words and actions to photos works for me.  Twenty minutes and I have the vocab of a four year old. Let's see, I know how to say: he, she, man, woman, girl, boy, dog, cat, eat, drink, write, sleep, run, swim, rice, apple, pen, car. I also know how to use those words in easy, just learning to read, Kindergarten language- he eats, she eats, they eat... Not bad I guess.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. (And no, I did not learn how to say the title of this post, Rosetta's not that good...that I looked up and translated online!) Bonne Annee!