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After finally beginning to understand his teacher's French, Sedaris' realization that
"[understanding is] a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive" emphasizes the rewarding aspect of true understanding (Sedaris). The image below of two people high fiving represents the rewarding feeling provided by gaining true understanding.

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Understanding is an essential step in learning a foreign language as it guarantees that one has effectively begun to associate emotion with words.

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Near the beginning of the article, the author explains their limited knowledge of the French language: "I know the shape of the alphabet but had no idea what it actually sounded like" (Sedaris). Through this confession, the author recognizes that learning the alphabet is one of the steps involved in learning a language. The images below depict the differences in pronunciation between the French and English alphabet. Because of differences between the pronunciations of letters in different languages, this suggests that one must understand the alphabet of a new language before they can understand that language.

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Towards the end of the essay, the author writes "The world opened up "and he says "I know the thing that you speak exact now" (Sedaris). Throughout the essay, the author slowly realizes that understanding can have many meanings and often does not lead to full comprehension. At the end of the essay, the author finally fully understands his teacher and it brings him great joy. In the image below, there are two children, one of which does not understand the other. This is similar to how at the beginning of the essay, the author did not understand his French teacher and her teaching style.

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True understanding requires comprehensive knowledge to support it.

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While Sedaris and his classmates joined the class relatively confident in their basic ability to read and speak French, the class quickly taught them that their understanding of French was weak. As a result, they go from "students exhibit[ing] ... ease and confidence" to students "huddled in the hallways and making the most of [their] pathetic French" (Sedaris).

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"Understanding doesn't mean that you can suddenly speak the language"

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"Understanding doesn't mean that you can suddenly speak the language"

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Through this statement, Sedaris highlights how understanding is simply a crucial step towards fully learning and mastering a language. Although it is necessary and important, it alone does not allow one to fully learn a language. Sedaris' own experience learning French illustrates this as he ultimately understands French but is not able to speak it.

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Perceive the intended meaning of words, a language, or a speaker.

Interpret or view something in a particular war.