¶ … Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan," June Jordan writes about the need to pay attention to Black English and to learn how important it is for African-American cultural identity. In David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day," the author writes about how hard it is to learn a new language: French, in particular. Although both authors write about language diversity, Jordan and Sedaris come from two totally different points-of-view. Jordan is concerned about race relations in America. The bulk of "Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan" is about Black English and its rules. However, the essay is also about race-motivated police brutality. The author links the two issues together, showing that race and language can go hand-in-hand to create political solidarity. In "Me Talk Pretty One Day," Sedaris...
The author simply makes fun of himself as a forty-one-year-old student learning French in Paris. He makes fun of his teacher as well as himself, creating a humorous piece. The main difference between the Sedaris and Jordan pieces is their teaching style that is described.
In David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day," the author writes about his French teacher in Paris. The teacher spoke only in French, so immediately Sedaris states, "I understood only half of what this woman was saying," (p. 11). Sedaris's teacher is also portrayed as being very rude and sarcastic, as she makes fun of her students. For example, she tells the Polish students, "I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we've been blessed with someone as unique and original as you? Tell us, please." (p. 12). This proves how sarcastic the teacher was in the class. Sedaris even
claims the teacher "killed some time accusing the Yugoslavian girl of masterminding a program of genocide," (p. 13). In the end, the teacher tells Sedaris, "You exhaust me with your…
