Pursuing What You’re Meant To Do As An Independent Language Teacher — Gabriella Ferenczi
Intro:
Gabriella Ferenczi is a German and Hungarian language teacher and language coach. She’s the founder of ProLingua Global, a boutique language training company based in London, UK. Gabriella specializes in working with executives and corporate leaders in the financial services industry.
Tell us a bit about your backstory. How did you first get started teaching German and Hungarian?
My journey started as an ambitious 10 year old in our family kitchen: Using a blackboard my father made for me, I taught my parents anything I learnt in school and found interesting. My very first ‘pupils’ were also subject to tests and school work and had their own report cards — all designed by me of course.
It was kind of obvious that I’d become a teacher and it’s really interesting how vividly I articulated this goal at such a young age. I’ve always been fascinated about languages and cultures. German and Hungarian being at the core of my family’s story and heritage, I went on to read German and Hungarian Linguistics and Literature. During university years, I got fascinated about psychology and human nature, study skills and teaching methodologies, and I got my very first job just a few days before my graduation at a fantastic independent language school in Budapest.
It was a very inspirational and supportive environment where I learnt so much about the practical side of teaching and motivation. I appreciated the small group classes (maximum 4 students) because I could provide a very personal learning experience for all participants.
In 2007, life and love (aka ‘the love of my life …’) brought me to London. I fell in love with the city. I established my own little German & Hungarian teaching practice. First, I started to work for colleges and language schools to then go on and work for companies in all sorts of sectors including finance, insurance, law, fashion, media and logistics. I now coach finance executives and professionals who are eager to learn the language for either business or personal reasons and need a language coach to match their needs and busy schedule.
I now coach finance executives and professionals who are eager to learn the language for either business or personal reasons and need a language coach to match their needs and busy schedule.
You have quite a story about being a teacher. I don’t know anybody who had a school for their parents when they were kids. But honestly, that doesn’t completely surprise me. When we first talked, we connected about being multi-passionate people. (Or I like the term multipotentialite.) Can you tell us what you do now?
I love your term ‘multipotentialite’! Because passion and potential go hand in hand. I have a whole list of passions, interests and hobbies that light me up: languages, cultures, ancient wisdom and traditions, traveling, reading, learning, arts, marketing, personal and business development, writing. Pursuing a single avenue career-wise started to sound a bit suffocating to me.
While I love teaching languages, I realised that I also love teaching other skills that I have learnt.
So, what else do I do beside being a language teacher and running ProLingua Global? I’m the Marketing Director of a boutique hair & beauty salon in Central London. I work with a team of digital marketing interns whom I mentor and guide during their internship programme. We’ve won awards and this is where I learnt the nitty gritty of online marketing myself.
I work with a team of digital marketing interns whom I mentor and guide during their internship programme. We’ve won awards and this is where I learnt the nitty gritty of online marketing myself.
Oh wow! You do so much. And everything that you do is not necessarily connected. That’s very impressive. Shifting to your marketing expertise, language teachers often have a difficult time scaling their prices. What has been the most successful way that you’ve been able to do this for your business(es)?
I host and organise a non-profit, monthly networking initiative called Language Professionals’ Networking Event.
And I just started my new passion project Thrive Online. It’s all about helping fellow language professionals who struggle with the practical aspects of online marketing because they don’t get and don’t do tech.
Indeed, pricing is a crucial point in our industry. I tried to separate myself from the market by specifying the niche I’m happy to serve: I really enjoy working with executives in the financial services industry. I know what they need, I understand what they want and what they don’t want.
Oh thanks so much for pointing that out. It also sounds like you chose a niche of an ideal client who could afford to pay your more. That’s so important when mapping out your brand identity. In my own entrepreneurial experience, and really in life in general, I find that connecting with others around a common cause makes everything so much more worthwhile. Can you tell us about Language Professionals Networking
I created a programme and learning experience that really meets their needs and exceeds their expectations. They appreciate my approach and have the means to afford my higher than market average prices. Finding and defining my niche was the single biggest breakthrough for me to get out of the ‘underpaid and struggling’ cycle.
Finding and defining my niche was the single biggest breakthrough for me to get out of the ‘underpaid and struggling’ cycle.
I so agree with you, Bryn! I love meeting new people, and I enjoy connecting people and bringing them together. People would often call me a bridge.
I started Language Professionals’ Networking Event back in August 2018. I felt a bit lonely as a freelance language teacher and missed the company of peers I could hang out with and turn to for support. I’d go to teacher conferences but I always felt that they were formal and there was no real opportunity to network and have meaningful conversations with people. Everyone was just kind of going their way.
So I decided to launch Language Professionals’ Networking and see if other colleagues would feel the same way. Turns out — yes, they do.
So I decided to launch Language Professionals’ Networking and see if other colleagues would feel the same way. Turns out — yes, they do.
And I’m really so glad that you’ve opened up to professionals around the globe. I’ve only been to one of your events. But at that event alone, I met so many interesting people. You said that you learned marketing on the job and out of necessity. Thinking now of all that you’ve learned, what is the most critical skill in marketing that has made a difference in your business?
It started out as a London-based multidisciplinary initiative. We now have all sorts of language professionals following the network, including language teachers, translators, transcreators, interpreters, voice coaches, speech therapists, copywriters, authors, journalists, editors, proofreaders, subtitlers, and the like.
It’s a wonderfully inspirational environment where friendships are forming, collaborations are happening, and connections are being made. We have great conversations and enjoy each other’s company immensely.
Ever since the beginning, I’ve organised this monthly, have never missed a month, and because of the pandemic, our doors have now opened up to language professionals around the globe, which is just wonderful.
Learning how to write copy that sells. Because I realised that I can be the most fantastic language teacher, if no one knows about me, no one would buy from me.
You know, I’ve been working in marketing in some form for about 10 years. I realized that what links all that I do together is good copywriting. So, I couldn’t agree with you more here. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would change about your language teaching career? Why?
Word of mouth works only up to a certain point. I realised that in order to have a steady stream of clients and a reliable source of income, I needed to do marketing.
Oh, that is such a good reminder to all of us for how to have a healthy mindset. Is there anything else that you’d like to share about yourself?
Knowing how to write copy that makes people want to get in touch and learn more about how I can help them is the single most important marketing skill I learnt that serves me well.
Knowing how to write copy that makes people want to get in touch and learn more about how I can help them is the single most important marketing skill I learnt that serves me well.
I don’t think there’s anything I’d change retrospectively. At all times in my life, I was at a point I needed to be and I trust the timing of my life. Each challenge has brought valuable lessons and I would not be where I’m at now without those hurdles.
I’m a documentary junkie. I’m a foodie. I consider myself to be a flexatarian — I eat mostly vegan to reduce my impact on the planet, but every once in a while, I’d eat eggs, meat and fish too. No dairy though.
I love English tea — yes, with milk (a plant based milk alternative I mean). And oh boy, I LOVE a good red wine.
I also like to challenge myself and get out of my comfortable city life. And when I say challenge, I mean the kind of challenge that some people would consider crazy … In the summer of 2019, my hubby and I spent 3 weeks in the higher Himalayas, in Nepal and Tibet. We wanted to experience the remnants of the Tibetan culture and study Nepalese and Tibetan beliefs, history and customs.
That involved spending time at altitudes that are inhabitable for humans (above 5200 meter). That’s when we learnt what altitude sickness was all about. There was a moment when we both reached a strange, consciously unconscious state of mind, due to the extremely low oxygen levels. It was serious, and very scary. But we pulled it through and that trip created memories of a lifetime.
Oh wow, what an experience! It sounds like a beautiful experience to travel to the Himalayas. But my vision of this doesn’t include altitude sickness. I’m so glad that you and your husband recovered.
Okay, so if others want to connect with you online, how can they do that?
Website: www.gabriellaferenczi.com
Email: info [ at ] gabriellaferenczi [ dot ] com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GabriellaFerencziOfficial/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaferenczi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabiFerenczi
Originally published at https://makealeap.co/ on February 16, 2021.
