Marieke Remmen

From Paris to Manila: My journey with language

 

After high school, I went to Paris as an au pair. During the day, I took a four-year-old girl to school, Meanwhile, I was in class at the Alliance Française. There, I discovered how language opens doors.

 

Later, I lived in Italy. My first lessons? The Bold and the Beautiful in Italian. Then language school in Verona, pizza after class, and strolling through Piazza Bra...… La dolce vita!

 

Back in the Netherlands, the outside world continued to draw me. I worked in Zambia, Rwanda, and Ghana. English and French helped me hear stories I'll never forget. I learned: language isn't just communication, it's connection.

 

In England, I researched how refugee women found their place in the Netherlands. Their secret? Perseverance, hope, resilience, and above all: language.

 

Inspired, I became a language volunteer. I enjoyed teaching so much that I enrolled in teacher training. And suddenly I was teaching Dutch to nurses in Manila. Who would have thought?

 

Language has taken me everywhere—from Paris to Verona, from Rwanda to the Philippines. It remains my key to new worlds. And I'm curious to see where else it will lead me.