Common questions,
honest answers.

Bernaly is a marketplace for learning Switzerland’s spoken languages — Swiss German dialects (Züritüütsch, Bärndütsch, St. Gallerdütsch), Swiss French, Swiss Italian, and Romansh — with verified native tutors over video. Lessons are 1-on-1, you pick your own tutor, and most offer a free 15-minute trial so you can see if the chemistry fits before committing.

No. Many of our learners start from scratch. When you book, you can leave a short note for the tutor telling them your level (or that you have none) and what you’d like to focus on. Tutors adjust the lesson accordingly.

Apps like Duolingo teach textbook Hochdeutsch — useful, but it’s not what people actually speak at a Zürich lunch table or a Bern bus stop. Bernaly focuses on the spoken, regional reality of Switzerland and pairs you with a human who lives there. Language schools cover similar ground but cost much more and run on a fixed timetable — we’re booking-by-the-lesson and flexible.

Yes. Every tutor who has opted into trials gives one free 15-minute lesson per learner. It’s a chance to meet, check the vibe, and decide if you want to book a longer paid session. You can only claim the trial once per tutor; after that you book 30 / 60 / 90-minute paid lessons.

You can book 30, 60, or 90 minutes. The tutor sets their hourly rate; you see the total price before you confirm.

In your browser. Bernaly creates a video room for each confirmed booking — no app to install. Some tutors prefer using their own Zoom / Google Meet / Teams link, in which case we’ll send you there instead. Either way, the link is in your confirmation email and on your account page.

The join button opens 10 minutes before the start time and stays available until 30 minutes after the lesson ends, so small delays on either side are fine.

Pick a tutor on the marketplace, open their profile, choose a day/time and duration. Your request goes to the tutor — they confirm (or decline) and you get an email either way.

We’re currently in early access — paid sessions are free during this phase while we onboard our first tutors and finalise our Stripe Connect setup. Once payment is live, you’ll be charged at booking and we’ll pay the tutor after each completed session. Free trials stay free forever. Prices on the site include 8.1% Swiss VAT (MWST) where applicable.

Cancel any time on your account page. The policy:
More than 48 hours before the lesson: free for both sides.
Inside 48 hours:the full lesson price is charged to whoever cancels — the tutor’s slot is theirs, so we pay them out. Free trials are always free to cancel. The other side gets a polite email either way.
While we’re in early-access free phase, no money actually moves — but late cancels are still recorded so the policy works the moment payments go live.

Every tutor application is reviewed by our team — we’re looking at native-speaker proficiency, teaching background or experience, and that the bio reads like a person we’d want to learn from. Approval typically takes 2–3 working days.

Head to /become-a-tutor/apply and fill in the form. You set your own rate, your own days, and your own teaching style. We’ll let you know by email when your application is reviewed.

Yes — tutors can paste their preferred video URL in the dashboard. Once it’s set, all your confirmed bookings use that link instead of the default Bernaly room.

On the Swiss German side: Züritüütsch (Zürich and surroundings), Bärndütsch (Bern), and St. Gallerdütsch (St. Gallen and Eastern Switzerland). On the other national languages: Swiss French (Suisse romande), Swiss Italian (Ticino), and Romansh (Graubünden). We’re actively recruiting more tutors in all six.

Romansh is one of Switzerland’s four national languages, spoken by fewer than 60,000 people, mostly in the canton of Graubünden. It’s descended from the Latin brought to the Alps by Roman soldiers — closer to Friulian or Ladin than to French or Italian. Bernaly treats it as a first-class language alongside German, French and Italian, not a curiosity.

No — it’s a family of dialects that vary village-by-village. Most learners pick the dialect of the city or region they live in, and our tutor profiles say exactly which one. If you’re not sure which to pick, try a free trial with two different tutors and see which feels right.

Yes — try it here. Free, no account needed. Type a German word or phrase and we’ll show you how it’s said in Züritüütsch, Bärndütsch, and St. Gallerdütsch side by side. You can also suggest a rule from the widget if you spot a gap.

We use magic links — enter your email at /login and click the link we send you. No passwords to remember. You can also sign in with Google.

We store only what we need to run lessons — your name, email, bookings, and reviews you write. See our privacy policy for the long version.

Email us at hello@bernaly.ch or visit the contact page.