My encounter with the French language

Only recently, we celebrated 'World Poetry Day'. Though, a little belated, I'd like to share my experiences of learning the French language for an year now. What does learning a foreign language do to you? A lot! More than what you could have ever imagined! It opens up an entire new world of possibilities in front of you, right from exciting career and study options to just the simple pleasure that one obtains when one is learning a foreign language. It transforms your life for sure as you discover not only new words and grammar, but also a new culture in the form of films, music, literature and food. I took the plunge and decided to pen down a poem of my experiences with the French language with whom I have been friends for about an year now. In this poem, the French language is a person whom I am having a conversation with. I tell her that I am afraid of a foreign language. She, in turn, reassures and comforts me. You have to be friends with a language, you can't keep yourself at distance from it and try and learn it at the same time. For those who do not understand French, the essence of my composition is that we need to treat language (and it can be any language) as we treat life. We discover life afresh everyday with the challenges and moments it throws up. In the same way, we need to discover language everyday and be friends with it. Learning a language is like a journey where reaching the destination should not bother us. Take pleasure out of the journey. A new language helps you to discover your own self, explore new ideas and rejuvenates your spirit. Befriend a language and it will never leave you, for it will become an integral part of your life. In my case, though I was always reluctant to learn a foreign language, I think now I have been able to overcome my fears and finally be friends with French. My hope is that this association continues and for now at least, I cannot see the end of this friendship :) Here goes my poem ...

"Je parle français"

Un rendez-vous inoubliable

Ajourd'hui c'est la réalité,

Mais, avant, c'était un rêve
Écoutez! Je vous raconte!
Un jour, je rencontre la langue française
Elle me demande,
"Pourquoi tu as peur?"

"Tu es une langue étrangère", je dit

 Elle sourit ...

"Maintenant, je suis étrangère;

Après, je vais devenir ton amie."

Une langue comme une amie?

Je ne suis pas sûr

Comment ça c'est possible?

Néanmoins, je commence ce rendez-vous!

Les mots, la pronunciation et 

plus important la grammaire,

Ils me rendent folle,

Pourtant, attendez!

Ce n'est pas la fin de mon histoire.

Petit à Petit ...

Je pense, je découvre,

j'imagine, je crée

Grace à la langue française.

Les nouvelles idées,

Les possibilités extraordinaires,

Et l'esprit rajeuni

Tout est réalise ...

Ce n'est pas juste une langue,

C'est

Un pays, sa culture, ses films,

sa musique, sa litterature et sa cuisine.

Je lui dit, "Tu m'emmenes à une planet differente."

"C'est ça mon objectif

J'essaie que ...

Tu apprecies, réalise,

tu te submerge et repense."

C'était la meilleur realization.

Une langue est comme la vie

Vous continuez de découvrir.

Une langue est comme le voyage

Ne vous inquietez pas pour la destination.

Enfin, elle me dit,

"Tu as tojours peur?"

Non!

Parce que c'est le debut de notre histoire.

- Dr. Nidhi Shendurnikar