This is an essay for ASU Barrett's college. The prompt is - Discuss how a particular work of music, literature, or art has inspired your educational path. I chose to write about the book "Le Petit Prince" but i'm not sure it fully connects to the prompt or is too story-like. Also i'm trying to explore different opening moments because the sole light seems a little dramatic. Any comments/feedback/corrections would be so helpful!
Le Petit Prince
I sat under the sole lamp in my kitchen, looking at the seemingly unfeasible task I had just committed myself to. I picked up my challenge, and studied the words neatly printed above a dull colored tableau, "Le Petit Prince." My grandma joined me at the counter as I delicately leafed through the worn pages. "Ready?" she asked, with an air of excitement. "Ready", I exhaled as we opened the first page, beginning the journey of tackling my first piece of French literature.
We struggled through the first part of the story, but with my grandma's support every week, I was grasping the book. She took every opportunity to explain to me the meaning of the story, even past the translation. I stopped one day at something that had been underlined from her previous reading, "Le langage est source de malentendus." My grandma softly pointed to this as her favorite line in the book, translated as "language is the source of misunderstanding."
At this point in the reading, I was more than discouraged by the difficulty of learning another language. This obstacle was magnified by the book in addition to the disappointment I had long felt not speaking German, my grandma's first language. So at this time, this quote seemed only to reinforce my fear that I would never be able to express myself in a language other than English without being misunderstood.
As we continued, I began to expand my exposure, outside of the book, to the French language. Through my studies, a whole world was opened to me. For the first time in my life, I had discovered something that I enjoyed studying, something that for me had a real tangible purpose - to broaden my world, and to be able connect to more of humanity on a deeper level. Through all of this realization, "Le Petit Prince" took on a new meaning. As I watched my grandma reach for the dictionary to explain to me words she could only describe in German, I realized that language learning, like so many things in life, is a never ending process.
Recently, my grandma and I finished "Le Petit Prince." I completed my mission, and came out with a discovered passion. In the back of the book, my grandma had scribbled her favorite quote. Reading it a second time I could acknowledge language as simply a medium to express the feelings behind the words, rather than a barrier between me and the rest of the world. The story of The Little Prince is printed in over 210 languages and thus is not exclusive to the French language, just as my expression is not limited to English. And although it was mostly the process of reading the story of the "Le Petit Prince" that was so powerful for me, I plan to read it again along with my copies of "El Principito" and "Der Kleine Prinz" and I suspect that every reading will unearth more of the feeling and teachings of the little prince hidden in the language of his story.
Le Petit Prince
I sat under the sole lamp in my kitchen, looking at the seemingly unfeasible task I had just committed myself to. I picked up my challenge, and studied the words neatly printed above a dull colored tableau, "Le Petit Prince." My grandma joined me at the counter as I delicately leafed through the worn pages. "Ready?" she asked, with an air of excitement. "Ready", I exhaled as we opened the first page, beginning the journey of tackling my first piece of French literature.
We struggled through the first part of the story, but with my grandma's support every week, I was grasping the book. She took every opportunity to explain to me the meaning of the story, even past the translation. I stopped one day at something that had been underlined from her previous reading, "Le langage est source de malentendus." My grandma softly pointed to this as her favorite line in the book, translated as "language is the source of misunderstanding."
At this point in the reading, I was more than discouraged by the difficulty of learning another language. This obstacle was magnified by the book in addition to the disappointment I had long felt not speaking German, my grandma's first language. So at this time, this quote seemed only to reinforce my fear that I would never be able to express myself in a language other than English without being misunderstood.
As we continued, I began to expand my exposure, outside of the book, to the French language. Through my studies, a whole world was opened to me. For the first time in my life, I had discovered something that I enjoyed studying, something that for me had a real tangible purpose - to broaden my world, and to be able connect to more of humanity on a deeper level. Through all of this realization, "Le Petit Prince" took on a new meaning. As I watched my grandma reach for the dictionary to explain to me words she could only describe in German, I realized that language learning, like so many things in life, is a never ending process.
Recently, my grandma and I finished "Le Petit Prince." I completed my mission, and came out with a discovered passion. In the back of the book, my grandma had scribbled her favorite quote. Reading it a second time I could acknowledge language as simply a medium to express the feelings behind the words, rather than a barrier between me and the rest of the world. The story of The Little Prince is printed in over 210 languages and thus is not exclusive to the French language, just as my expression is not limited to English. And although it was mostly the process of reading the story of the "Le Petit Prince" that was so powerful for me, I plan to read it again along with my copies of "El Principito" and "Der Kleine Prinz" and I suspect that every reading will unearth more of the feeling and teachings of the little prince hidden in the language of his story.
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