Christophe Perreault
Christophe Perreault is a Franco-Canadian author and illustrator, fluent in several languages. He supports leaders and organizations in addressing cultural and intercultural challenges. Through LiberSila, he explores languages, cultures, and the many ways we perceive the world.
He currently lives in France, between Isère and Haute-Savoie.
Where it all began
This book began long before its first page. Thirty years ago, standing before a sunset in Santorini, something began to stir. The light, the sea, the wind - and a language whose sound seemed to echo the place itself. In that moment, a realization emerged: my life is a journey in which languages open countless paths. And this experience had to be shared. Like a call from the open sea. Irresistible.
As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by world maps. While other children drew airplanes, horses, or houses, I was recreating maps - or inventing them - to escape into those worlds. I imagined myself speaking with local populations, venturing into unknown territories, and living a thousand adventures in a space where nothing seemed impossible…
My attraction to languages developed in parallel. Watching representatives from every country speaking at the United Nations in one of its six official languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, French, Russian), I made a promise to myself: one day, I would understand every speech in its original language.
French was my native language, and English a prerequisite. To choose the next one, I decided to leave it to chance by throwing a dart, blindfolded, at a world map. It landed - unsurprisingly, given the size of the country - on what was then the USSR.
I immersed myself in the study of Pushkin’s language, even spending some time studying in Moscow. A Cuban teacher then helped me learn Spanish through Russian.
Later on, travels in the Moroccan desert - combined with a few improvised lessons in Montreal (where I immigrated and lived for ten years) with students studying the Quran -opened the door to Arabic.
It was ultimately when I settled in Singapore, with frequent travels across Asia and particularly in China, that I began learning Chinese. Each encounter opened new paths for me. A few years spent in Germany and Italy later added German and Italian to this journey.
My life has always been shaped by travel, and languages, far from being barriers, became bridges to the cultures of the countries I explored. This sense of wonder took me to the far corners of the world: from the Inuit of northern Canada to the Dogon of Mali, from the Māori of New Zealand to tribes in the Amazon. At the same time, my professional life led me to travel to many major cities and collaborate with multicultural teams over many years.
Over time, my desire to travel changed in nature. It turned toward emotion and toward what, at a deeper level, connects us as human beings.
For a long time, these stories remained within me, like fragments of journeys and encounters. But in a world that sometimes seems to be turning inward, I felt the need to share this adventure, guided by two threads that feel essential to me today: humanism and a deep sense of wonder.
I hope you will find in it strong emotions and new reflections. Perhaps also the desire to learn more about other cultures, other languages, and to go and discover what is still unknown to us.
"Restoration of a world map drawn at the age of 11–12 (154 × 89 cm), combining countries, capitals, landscapes, explorers’ routes, a compass rose, animals, and mythological figures… a first glimpse, even then, of traveling the world without leaving my room."
