Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Shirley Temple effect

http://www.a-1video.com/Shirley%20Temple%20photo.JPG

Dear Marc, did you ever ween a baby off the bottle? No?
I am currently helping Joel kick his formula habit. It's not easy. I've tried everything. I think you'll believe I have when you hear that so far, the only thing that soothes the recovering addict is spending endless hours (before dawn) watching Shirley Temple clips on YouTube.

Vanja wakes up after dawn, but now she's into Shirley too.
We're moving to London for four months in two weeks. Vanja doesn't know any English. What little she learned in India is long forgotten.

But thanks to the weening soundtrack, Vanja has now equipped herself with an English vocabulary. We'll just have to wait and see how far "Animal crackers in my soup" takes her in London.

Any essential words or phrases I should try to teach her now?
Like "Do you have that in a size T4?" or "Dry-clean only"?

love
-e

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Aw, does she only speak Swedish? That's so cute! I totally melt over little kids who don't speak English!!

Was English your second language, Emi? Do many Swedes speak English? Is it widely understood? Ah, j'adore Sweden.

emi guner said...

Dear Mercy, you're in luck! There are billions of kids who don't know a word of English. And yes I was once one of them. English is still my second language.

If you go to Sweden you will have no trouble with language barriers. We all start learning English around age 12. It's mandatory. I'd chosen mandarin over English, but it wasn't an option.

Do come visit. It's cold and dark, we need visitors.

et said...

Vanja would go a long way in Australia with 'Animal crackers...' plus her cute smile! I think she would get many discounts for her mum!

Anonymous said...

I suggest something useful to her like: "Je suis une jeune fille tres élégant et aristocratique".

venya said...

One&only -E.
Just wanted to say that your blog is amazing. So do you.
You both were my inspiration. Plese check out my Speaking To Karl Lagerfeld Blog.
Wishin' u lots of good luck!

charlotte said...

Perhaps if you run into Marc at his soon-to-open London shop, you can teach Vanja to say 'Hello, Mr Jacobs, I'm a big fan'?

Spökplumpen said...

Yes Shirley Temple!
Mailade "When I grow up" till några kompisar för några veckor sedan, apropå dagens talangtävlingar och jakten på begåvade underbarn. Hon är barnstjärnornas heliga moder.
Är det ett sammanträffande att hon dyker upp här? Eller får Shirley, Mickey Rooney, Young rascals och Popeye sin släng av den populära burlesque-sleven? Precis som nyutgåvan av Bugsy Malone på dvd? YouTube kokar av skrapigt raspigt trettiotal...
Och apropå det: Visst är Charlotte Gainsbourg otroligt lik coola häxan i Trollkarlen från Oz?