An Indian man’s unusually intense approach to learning French has become a talking point online after a French teacher recalled how he booked a 7.5-hour language lesson in a single day to prepare for launching a business in Switzerland.
The anecdote was shared by Bianca Lala, who said she was initially convinced the lengthy booking had been made by mistake. When she contacted the student, however, she discovered that the unusually long lesson was deliberate.
According to Lala, the man told her that he wanted to learn French because he was planning to start a company in Switzerland the following week.
Teacher initially thought the 7.5-hour booking was a mistake
Lala, who previously taught French online, described her surprise at receiving the booking from an Indian student she had never met.
“Thinking about the time when I was teaching French online and I get a booking request from this Indian I’ve never met before for seven and a half hours in one day,” she recalled in an Instagram video.
Her first reaction was to contact him and check whether he had accidentally selected an unusually long lesson.
“So, of course I messaged him like, ‘Hey dude, is this a mistake?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, I want to learn French because I’m starting a company in Switzerland next week,’” Lala said.
The explanation left her even more curious about the student’s level of French.
He had only just started learning French
Lala initially assumed that anyone prepared to spend seven and a half hours studying French in one day must already have a reasonable command of the language.
Instead, she discovered that the student was at the beginning of his learning journey.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh s–t, okay, if this guy’s so confident, like he must already have a good level of French, right?’ He’s like, ‘No, no, actually I just started,’” she said.
What began as an unusually long one-day lesson reportedly became a much more consistent routine.
According to Lala, she and the student continued studying together for 7.5 hours a day over several weeks, turning the extraordinary first booking into a sustained effort to learn the language.
‘Don’t worry about ChatGPT, worry about Akash’
The teacher’s story took a humorous turn when she compared the student’s determination with the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence.
“It’s the Indians that are going to steal AI’s job. Don’t worry about ChatGPT, worry about Akash, okay? He’s got a family to feed,” Lala joked.
She also captioned her post, “I wonder what he’s up to…”
The AI reference added another layer to an already unusual story, with Lala essentially using the student’s relentless work ethic as a humorous counterpoint to fears surrounding artificial intelligence and automation.
The available account does not establish whether the man actually launched the planned business in Switzerland or what happened after the French lessons ended.
Social media users praise his determination
The anecdote quickly attracted attention online, with users responding to the student’s extreme study schedule in different ways.
Some commenters joked that he may have been taking additional lessons from teachers in other parts of the world, while others focused on the ambition required to establish a business in Switzerland.
One user wrote, “He’s probably doing another 7.5 hours with another instructor on the other side of the world! And a couple of hours of YouTube videos as well… while continuing to focus on building his business.”
Another commenter highlighted the motivation behind his approach, writing, “He has the hunger to succeed….which is NOT coming from hunger.”
‘When we enter survival mode, nothing is impossible’
The story also prompted comparisons with the familiar experience of Indian students preparing for examinations under intense time pressure.
One person joked, “If we can cover our entire syllabus just a day before our exams, learning French in a week should not be much of an issue cause when we enter survival mode, nothing is impossible for us.”
Another commenter summed up the anecdote with a reference to engineering students, writing, “Bro represents all engineering students from India 1 day before an exam.”
The comments turned the teacher’s original anecdote into a broader discussion about determination, ambition and the lengths people can go to when they have a clear deadline.
An unusual lesson in learning under pressure
Learning a language to a high level normally requires sustained exposure, practice and time. The student’s reported approach was therefore striking not because it proves French can be mastered in a matter of days, but because of the sheer intensity of his commitment.
Whether his Swiss business eventually took off remains unclear from the story shared by Lala. What is clear is that his reported willingness to spend hours every day learning a new language has resonated with social-media users.
