In this age of globalization, the ability to speak a variety of language is a critical criteria of survival. By picking up a new language, one can learn new culture and philosophy, which open up to new perspectives on how things can be seen. Picking up a new language also grant new opportunities as language serve as a tool of communication. Equipping more language means one can communicate with a wider range of individuals, where new opportunities can be explored.
For French being the second most used language after English, I am happy to grasp the chance to widen my skill set. Only after learning French Language, I found out that many English phrase originate from French, where their origin was the Latin language. French is quite hard to learn at first because it utilize a different set of grammar system: where nouns like table and pen actually have gender: table is a female where pen is a male. The proposition, the verb, all are different and new to me, where verb can bear 6 different forms is the most headache part for me since it require memory work to memorize all of them.
However, with sufficient effort and kind support from lecturer and friends, I was able to pickup basic French. Written practice and Speaking practice was conducted during the lessons, with the aim to drill our basic for better foundation. With that being said, French lessons had impacted me in such a way that it had opened up a whole new world, where I finally can start to read French poems.
Demain, dès l'aube
Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.
Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.
Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.
English Translation:
Tomorrow, at dawn
Tomorrow, at dawn, at the hour when the countryside whitens,I will depart. You see, I know you wait for me.I will go through the forest and over the mountains.I cannot stay far from you any longer.
I will trudge on, my eyes fixed on my thoughts,Ignoring everything around me, without hearing a sound,
Alone, unknown, back stooped, hands crossed,
Saddened, and the day will be like night for me.
I will neither see the golden glow of the falling evening,
Nor the sails going down to Harfleur in the distance,
And when I arrive, I will place on your tomb
A bouquet of green holly and flowering heather.