In this post, I 'fess up that two people have been playing an outsize role in my consciousness of late, because they have come to serve as very important mnemonics for me.
The first is my friend Jae, who has babysat my son in Seattle. His name is pronounced the same as Jay, and I use his name to help me remember how to say j'ai properly. It is critical to do so because je means just plain "I", and j'y is a ghastly creature all its own (I'll write about it in the future). These three commonplace utterances differ in sound only in the vowel. So I am grateful for all the help Jae can give me. Thanks, man!
The other important person: former San Francisco mayor, and current California lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom. I have a terrible problem with saying my s's as z's, for example, in the phrase nous sommes, "we are." Back in his mayoral days, he could be spotted at upscale San Francisco bars, seated alone, hard at work with a drink and the city's business spread out in front of him. This may be the most un-French evening behavior possible, so it makes him an even better mnemonic.
Jae, on the other hand, would never do that.
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