Veronica Brelsford

Born in Austria of German parents, Veronica encountered her first foreign language, English, at the age of 5. She learned it “almost unconsciously; certainly more easily than an older person who would be inclined to reason things out. Language is not very reasonable,” she adds. “Nor is it purely utilitarian, for communication at all levels has elements of culture and poetry.”

Teaching Philosophy

Veronica spent several semesters in Italy with groups of students, including a semester in 1989 on the island of Salina in the Aoelian group. Following one such semester at Casa Campardi in Italy, she spent a term on sabbatical as a student at the University of Grenoble. “It’s important for a teacher to get back into the classroom as a student,” she says. “I loved tackling some areas I hadn’t had time to explore in depth. The challenge of translation, for instance. I think that people need to be aware that much of the literature they read is somebody’s interpretation of what’s been said, not the original.” Veronica’s translation workshops seeked to sensitize the student to this issue and to seek “an ever-better understanding of the text.”

Veronica was hired by Marlboro College in 1965.