My passion for languages

I am Pauline, a French language coach born in Paris and based in La Rochelle – in love with language learning & the famous macarons from Carette.

I have helped so far more than 350 students from all over the world to improve their French and achieve their professional and personal goals. Some have become advanced speakers, have passed their exams, entered a French university or been hired by the company they dreamed of, others have settled in France.

Languages have a central place in my life. I speak several, translate some, and continue to study others – English, Tibetan, Sanskrit, pāli, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and some Hindi. This passion for languages and their specificities has been a great help to me in acquiring valid techniques to optimize learning, memorization, and motivation.

I love languages because they have the power to create bonds between all of us, whatever our culture. They open up incredible opportunities for communication.

Learning a language is an adventure. It also strongly looks like the training of a professional sportsman. Developing one’s mindset, defining one’s goals and celebrating victories are true key points. Learning a language means pushing back the frontiers and beyond one’s limits.

It all began at an “open book bar” in a local bookstore

When I was a kid, there was a bookstore on the way to school where my mother had opened an account for my brother, sister and I – a sort of free access to all the books you could imagine. After stopping by the bakery nearby, I would go there to pick up a book on my way home from school. The bookseller and my mother soon became good friends – for sure. 

I can still feel the joy and freedom in the discovery of the many different forms of expression found in books. French and foreign literature, authors from all horizons, artistic movements and styles of expression from all over the world. Not to mention language methods!

I love words – their sounds and their rhythms. I love phonetics and grammar too! But not the traditional side of it. Yes, the syntax is much more like a connection web than a boring book. And here is good news: it can be fun, it can be like music and you can hack it! That is just one of the many things I’ll teach you in my course.

While doing my Modern Literature Master degree, I was passionate about Marcel Proust and Camus, as well as Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Boris Vian. I started tutoring in French to middle and high school students. I also began writing and was fortunate enough to collaborate on a literary review.