French-speaking belgian guy offers private french lessons for any level (in english, português, español o italiano)

Find out more about Basile

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I was born and raised in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, making it my mother tongue.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  An infinity of names come to my mind as I read the question but being Belgian I must mention Jacques Brel, the most appreciated Belgian singer of all times.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behaviour in the language that you particularly like?

  French is full of funny saying that include animals such as J'ai d'autres chats à fouetter literally meaning I have other cats to whip (Let me mind my own business)

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  French is my mother tongue and will always be the language in which I can truly express my deep thoughts. The more I get to speak new languages the more I realise how French is rich and fascinating!

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  For an English speaker, the conjugation is definitely a struggle, so is it in any Latin language. But apart from that, what makes French so confusing is all its silent letters and all the exceptions each rule has!

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  When I was in Brazil, for an internship in the tourism area, I decided to work in a language school. I didn't like their teaching method which I was force to follow. I thought I could do much better teaching my own way and started to do so with the firm intention to keep doing it once in Canada, which I now do on a daily basis.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Every time I traveled, I learnt a new language: I left Belgium for Australia when I was 19 with a very basic level of English and when I got there, it was very complicated for me to communicate with people and to find a job, which really frustrated me. It is that frustration that gave me the strength to learn faster and realise I was actually good at it! After Australia and before starting studies in Belgium I went to Bali for a month and quickly got to speak with the local people in their beautiful language. After 2 years of study back home I had the amazing opportunity of doing an exchange year in Spain where I learnt so fast Spanish that I had plenty of time to start learning Italian with my Italian friends studying there too. Then I went to Brazil after only 1 month learning Portuguese at home, and it took me about 2 months to became fluent in it!

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  All the mention above testifies of my passion for languages and I think passion is the key to be a good teacher in any subjects. I always enjoyed explaining people how to make logical connections between their language and mine and since I arrived in Canada I can finally teach as much as I wanted, allowing me to live what I like to call the Canadian Dream!!