If you never try, you will never succeed. But when it comes to speaking a foreign language, unless you have had the right learning experience it can inhibit your confidence to speak. In my narrative “’Je Ne Comprends Pas’ I Do Not Understand” over this summer I explain that I spent two weeks in Senegal with a family that has known my family for a very long time. The children in their family grew up speaking English as a third language, while I only grew up listening to partial French. Canagarajah mentions that having some translingualism, such as codemeshing, in your life will help you become more comfortable speaking the second language. In my case this did not help, and I question whether it was speaking at home, or the French teachers I had at school (like Sedaris), or some other reasons. Like Sedaris it could be because of a teacher who wasn’t supportive or it could be because of my own confidence. I wonder if my lack of confidence to speak another language hurt my ability to fit and make close connections with other people. I also wonder if it caused me not to fully understand their culture, which would have been exciting because I was visiting during a religious holiday. Whether it was the way I was taught French or my own confidence level, my French speaking ability was lost on the way.