ABOUT ME
WELCOME to my language world
Who am I?
My name is Nathalie and I am from Switzerland.
I grew up in the mountains of the beautiful canton of Valais.
I have a bachelor's degree in hospitality management. I have always worked with customers whether in the customer relations department of a real estate agency or as a relationship manager in a bank. I love client contact.
Why did I choose to give language classes?
Lately and during my travels, I noticed a phenomenon. I met a lot of people that were ashamed of their language level. Even very confident people told me this. Lot of people are afraid of speaking. I found this very sad because if you want to improve your language skills, there is only ONE secret: talk, talk and talk!
In order to use and share my knowledge, I decided to set up my own business giving language lessons. I love languages so much that I want to help you progress, motivate you and accompany you to your linguistic fulfilment. I want to give you a space where you can talk!
What is my mother tongue?
I was lucky enough to grow up bilingual Swiss-German/French. I grew up in the mountains of the beautiful canton of Valais (a bilingual canton). I live in the French-speaking part and at home I always spoke Swiss-German because my parents come from the Swiss-German part.
In Switzerland, many families have a parent who speaks another of the country's languages, but often having just one parent teaching the language at home gives the child an ear for it but not necessarily the ability to speak it. I have met a lot of people who have told me that by the time they were teenagers, they had had enough and stopped trying, so they lost their level. Afterwards, they all regretted it. So having two parents who speak the same second language is an incredible opportunity for bilingualism.
Having grown up bilingual, not just linguistically but also culturally, gives me a broad knowledge and understanding of my country. All the rest of my family live in the German-speaking Switzerland, so ever since I was a child I have always travelled and visited Switzerland, being familiar with Swiss-German and Swiss-French culture.
Some language facts about Switzerland
I will start introducing myself giving some facts about my country.
Despite our small size, we have 4 national languages: 65% of the Swiss population speak German, 25% speak French, 9% speak Italian and 1% speak Romansh.
To sum up, the linguistic make-up of Switzerland is as follows:
That is a lot of linguistic distinctions, isn't it?
Despite all the national languages, the Swiss generally speak one language, that of their canton. Just because a canton is bilingual does not mean that its inhabitants are necessarily bilingual. In fact, in Switzerland there is a phenomenon called the Röstigrabe* that divides Swiss-Germans and Swiss-French speakers.
Every Swiss person is obliged to learn a second national language during their schooling, but this does not make you bilingual. As a result, it is not uncommon to see two Swiss people from different cantons speaking English together.
*Röstigrabe is a Swiss-German expression that refers to a cultural barrier between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland. Rösti is a typical Swiss potato cake. The literary translation of Röstigrabe is rösti ditch.
I was lucky to grow up in this beautiful country with its 26 cantons and Berne as its capital (and not Zürich as people often think). Switzerland is at the centre of Europe, but not part of the European Union. In Switzerland, everything is a bit different. It is a unique country and I love my country for that.
Despite our small size, we have 4 national languages: 65% of the Swiss population speak German, 25% speak French, 9% speak Italian and 1% speak Romansh.
The majority of Swiss people speak German but it is not the standard German of Germany called "Hochdeutsch". Swiss people speak Swiss-German called "Schwizerdütsch". Swiss-German is a collection of Alemannic dialects. Each Swiss-German canton has its own dialect of Swiss-German. Despite the differences between each Swiss-German dialect, all Swiss-German speakers understand each other. Swiss-German is a spoken language only. The official written language is standard German.
To sum up, the linguistic make-up of Switzerland is as follows:
17 Swiss-German-speaking cantons
4 French-speaking cantons
4 Bilingual cantons (3 bilingual in French and Swiss-German, 1 bilingual in Romansh and Swiss-German)
1 Italian-speaking canton
4 French-speaking cantons
4 Bilingual cantons (3 bilingual in French and Swiss-German, 1 bilingual in Romansh and Swiss-German)
1 Italian-speaking canton
That is a lot of linguistic distinctions, isn't it?
Despite all the national languages, the Swiss generally speak one language, that of their canton. Just because a canton is bilingual does not mean that its inhabitants are necessarily bilingual. In fact, in Switzerland there is a phenomenon called the Röstigrabe* that divides Swiss-Germans and Swiss-French speakers.
Every Swiss person is obliged to learn a second national language during their schooling, but this does not make you bilingual. As a result, it is not uncommon to see two Swiss people from different cantons speaking English together.
*Röstigrabe is a Swiss-German expression that refers to a cultural barrier between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland. Rösti is a typical Swiss potato cake. The literary translation of Röstigrabe is rösti ditch.
How did I learn my others languages?
I am passionate about languages and my dream has always been to speak five of them perfectly. I am fluent in Swiss-German, German, French, English and Spanish.
English classes were introduced at secondary school. It gave me a very solid grammatical base. To improve my speaking, I went on a three months exchange to Canada, living with a Canadian family. During those three months I went to high school with their daughter. There is nothing like being immersed in the country and the language you want to learn. It speeds up the learning process and gives you the confidence to express yourself.
Later, in high school, I had to choose a main option. I fell in love with the Spanish language and it was without thinking that I chose this option. I had Spanish lessons for four years, which again gave me a solid grammatical base. To improve my language skills, I did two internships in Spain. I spent three months in Mallorca and six months in Barcelona. These two internships gave me a very good knowledge of the Spanish language. I have made Spanish friends and I speak to them every week by message. I also visit them very regularly, so my brain is constantly stimulated in Spanish. I have been learning, speaking and perfecting my Spanish for over ten years now. I have reached a stage where I have to admit that my Spanish is better than my English. I still love the language as much as when I started. To broaden my knowledge of Spanish even further, I had always dreamt of going to South/Central America, which I did in 2023. I asked local people lots of questions about dialects, accents and pronunciations within the country. The vocabulary is sometimes very different. Over there, they use words that do not exist in Spain or have a completely different meaning. I find it fascinating to discover the thousand and one facets of a language.
What is my language level?
I am able to work in all the languages I speak.
For me, if you can work in the language that you have learnt, that means you have mastered it.