4. Choose your language!

Choose English or French…

Over the past hundred years, many students from other countries learned French especially to be able to come to the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. Today, the school is completely bilingual, and you can choose whether you will study in English or in French. The English and French sections are separate but equal. The goals are the same, although the approaches may be different. Many faculty members speak both languages and teach in both sections.

…and learn the other without tears!

Becoming a student at EHL is the best way to learn French if you are an English speaker and English if you are a French speaker, painlessly and without tears – not to mention all the other languages you will hear around you! Often, you will find yourself working in groups with students from both sections. In meetings, people speak the language they are most comfortable with and translate for each other. Students work together in both languages in Student Council and in many other student activities.

EHL: a conference and translation centre

There are two full-time translators at EHL. Everything has to be translated, from official documents right through to letters and memos. There is on-going translation for the intranet as well as for important meetings, speeches, tests and exams and anything else that concerns daily life at EHL. The whole school is sign-posted with bilingual directions; posters, brochures and the student newspaper are in English and French; graduation ceremonies are bilingual… Of course, the international conferences and meetings that are held at the school are also bilingual. EHL is a like a mini conference centre!

Not just two languages… two cultures

Being in a truly bilingual environment is not just speaking two languages but truly living two cultures: different ways of thinking, behaving, relating to others. It’s the best possible preparation for a career in international hospitality.