COLLAGE: When no one is around I... (Patreon)

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