Amanda’s Journey Amanda Burton is fluent in 4 languages – French, English, Dutch and Spanish.  Self-taught, Amanda now offers her own brand of French lessons using a combination of traditional teaching methods and her own unique learning techniques. Amanda was born in Bahrain, to English speaking parents.  Her family then returned briefly to England, before moving to Spain when Amanda was five.  In Spain, Amanda began her languages journey.  She was enrolled in a Spanish school, and thus begun learning the language.  After only a short time, Amanda had learned enough to chat with the local children.  From there, learning Spanish was child’s play! At age 9, Amanda’s family once again up and moved to a new country – this time France!  Upon arriving, she and her siblings were sent off to summer camp to learn the language.  Within a period of two short months, Amanda had conquered the basics and came out speaking French.

By high school, Amanda was already speaking three languages – English, Spanish and French.  She thoroughly enjoyed the learning process and, as a result, decided to learn a forth language - German.

Amanda remained in France throughout her early adult life, working in the Finance industry and teaching her passions of skiing and sailing. 

In 1992, Amanda moved to Amsterdam to build on her Finance career.  Though she knew no Dutch, she was undeterred, and set about learning the language quickly and competently, drawing on her knowledge and experience of learning languages in the past. 

Amanda spoke only Dutch from the day she arrived in Amsterdam.  It was a struggle at times, but Amanda persisted and, in no time at all, she was mixing with the locals and conversing as if Dutch was her native tongue!  Amanda remained in The Netherlands until she immigrated to Australia in 2002. 

Why Frenchly Speaking?

For years, Amanda has been teaching children and young adults, family and friends, the French language as a hobby.  It was something she thoroughly enjoyed doing, so it seemed like the natural next step to offer French language studies professionally.  And so, Frenchly Speaking was born!

With Frenchly Speaking, Amanda has combined the three passions of her personal and professional life: education, communication and languages.  Her goal is to help other people discover the joy of learning languages, specifically French.  Why French?  Because the French language, culture, and more importantly its people, hold a special place in Amanda’s heart. France is where Amanda discovered her “joie de vivre”.   Let Amanda bring a little bit of the French “joie de vivre” into your life!