Berlitz Corporation

Berlitz Corporation

Industry	Global Leadership Training, Language Services
Founded	Providence, Rhode Island July, 1878
Founder	Maximilian Berlitz
Headquarters	Princeton, New Jersey, Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Yukako Uchinaga (Chairman, CEO and President)
Parent	Benesse Corporation
Website	berlitz.com

Berlitz Corporation is a global leadership training and education company with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey and Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian D. Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island. Berlitz Corporation is a member of Benesse Group, with more than 550 company-owned and franchised locations in over 70 countries and regions offering programs for individuals, businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations in more than 50 languages.

History

First Berlitz Language School in Providence, Rhode Island 1878

Berlitz began over 130 years ago, Maximilian Berlitz, once a Professor of French and German, was in need of an assistant French instructor, he employed a Frenchman by the name of Nicholas Joly, only soon to discover that Joly barely spoke English, and was hired to teach French to English speakers in their native language. Several weeks later Berlitz returned to discover the students responded positively to Joly's instruction given only in French. This made way to the development of the Berlitz Method and the opening of the first Berlitz language school in Providence, Rhode Island, July 1878.

By 1888, and after the success of the school in Providence, Berlitz moved to Boston, Massachusetts and opened additional schools. Soon after Boston, he opened schools nearby in New York and in New Jersey and in 1886 he moved the headquarters and his personal residence to New York City. Before the year 1900 Berlitz expanded further, opening another eight schools in big cities across the country. It was also in the year 1900 that Nicholas Joly sold his interest in the company to Berlitz for a lump sum at the time. Once Joly sold his share in the partnership, Berlitz made his son-in-law Victor Harrison-Berlitz General Manager.

Growth

As the company moved into the 20th century, increased international trade and the rise of multinational corporations stimulated a new period of growth for Berlitz. In Europe, Latin America, and the Far East, the demand for English soared, replacing French as the accepted language of the business world. At the same time, the demand for other language instruction increased in English-speaking countries. By the time of the start of World War I in 1914, there were over 200 Berlitz Schools worldwide.

Maximilian Berlitz died in 1921. His son-in-law and associate, Victor Harrison-Berlitz, assumed leadership of the business. Not long after, Harrison died in 1932 and control passed briefly to his son, Victor Harrison-Berlitz, Jr., or "Vic". Vic, not interested in running the business looked to Jacques Strumpen-Darrie, a man who had built an outstanding career with Berlitz in Europe and the United States for more than 30 years. Jacques' son Robert succeeded his father as president in 1953.

In the 1950s, Berlitz found the composition of its student body changing. Berlitz was increasingly confronted with business professionals, and technicians headed for foreign posts and needing language skills for their new assignments, and major corporations seeking to enroll large numbers of personnel - and their families - to learn languages as quickly as possible. To meet this need, Berlitz accelerated the changeover from conventional classes to private and small group instruction and instituted a research program to develop new techniques of intensive instruction. After several years of research and testing, Berlitz created a stir in academic circles with the introduction of its Total Immersion (T.I.) instruction program. Total Immersion is geared for students with an urgent need, such as an impending relocation overseas. The program immerses the student in language instruction more than eight hours a day, for two to six weeks.

In the 1950s Berlitz also opened its first Latin American language center in Mexico, following shortly with locations in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. In 1966, Berlitz reaches Asia, starting with a language center in Tokyo. Today there are more than 90 Berlitz centers in Asia.

Acquisitions

In 1966, Berlitz became a subsidiary of Macmillan, Inc. Robert Strumpen-Darrie continued as president until his retirement in 1970, and Elio Boccitto led the company through most of the 1980s. In November 1988, Maxwell Communication Corporation took over Macmillan, and just a year later, Berlitz was made public.

In 1993, Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd., now known as the Benesse Corporation, a Japanese publisher of correspondence courses and other educational materials, began purchasing Berlitz stock. In 2001, Berlitz becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benesse Corporation.

In November 2010, the Berlitz changed its name from Berlitz International, Inc. to Berlitz Corporation, in efforts to build unity among staff.

Maximilian D. Berlitz

File:Maximilian D. Berlitz.jpg

Maximilian D. Berlitz

Maximilian Berlitz was born in Germany in 1852, the son of a family of teachers and mathematicians. Berlitz took an interest in languages not only did he speak English, French and German along with several other European languages, he studied many other languages including: Latin, Greek and even some Scandinavian and Slavic languages. He emigrated to the United States in 1870, settling in Westerly, Rhode Island. By 1877, Berlitz moved to Providence, Rhode Island where he was an instructor of languages at the Bryant and Stratton National Business College later to become Warner's Polytechnic Business College after ownership change. It was one year later, in 1878, that he developed the Berlitz Method and opened the first Berlitz language school. It was during this period that Berlitz stumbled upon the idea of the Berlitz Method and opened the first language school.

The Berlitz Method

The Berlitz Method is at the core of all language instruction at Berlitz. This "method" pioneered through the direct method and focuses on using language as a tool for communication. The direct method, as opposed to the traditional grammar translation method, advocates teaching through the target language only - the rationale being that students will be able to work out grammatical rules from the input language provided, without necessarily being able to explain the rules overtly. Today, there are a variety of derivative methods and theories which find their beginnings in the natural and communicative elements that were pioneered by Berlitz. Additionally the Berlitz Method presents language in the context of real-life situations, with targeted practice of grammar and vocabulary. Regarded as a communicative approach to language learning, Berlitz students learn through listening and speaking, supported by reading and writing, whereby grammar is learned as a means of communication.

Languages

Berlitz has instruction in the following languages: Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Berlitz programs

The Berlitz program portfolio includes customized programs for communication skills development, global leadership training, and solutions for cultural competency. The programs are available through various platforms:

• Language instruction
• Language assessment and testing services
• Business communication skills training
• Intercultural training
• Global leadership training
• Governmental/institutional programs
• Individual language instruction
• Children and teenagers’ programs
• Learning abroad

Global Leadership Training

Berlitz Global Leadership Training (GLT) is designed specifically to prepare business professionals with the skills to be global leaders. The program puts emphasis on areas such as, effective language and communication skills, business knowledge and leadership, and the practice of diversity and inclusion.

The five-step GLT program includes language acquisition (1) to enable effective business communication and intercultural competence (2) to assure leaders are able to understand and leverage cultural differences. The three additional steps: global business acumen (3) to help professionals translate their skills so they can be effective in different cultural contexts, a sense of values and ideals (4) and creating a personal global network (5).

Financial results

For the fiscal years 2004 to 2009 (in thousands of US dollars):

• 2004: 395.2
• 2005: 423.4
• 2006: 464.9
• 2007: 529.7
• 2008: 607.9
• 2009: 527.3

The total number of language lessons given during the year 2009 was 6,216 thousand. The number of language centers was 567 as of December 31, 2009.

Unions

In Japan, teachers at Berlitz are represented by several unions. In the Kansai region they are represented by the General Union, and in the Kanto region they are represented by Begunto, the Berlitz Tokyo General Union, part of the National Union of General Workers.

In Germany, teachers and office staff are represented by the GEW: The Union for Education and Science who achieved the first collective bargaining agreement in company history following month long strikes in 1990. In November 2010, management attempted for the first time to claw back the employee gains of the past 30 years in order to substantially reduce the conditions guaranteed in the collective bargaining agreement, threatening to lay off up to half of the contract teachers if the givebacks are not agreed to.

Industrial action

While the situation at Berlitz is different from country to country, in Japan there has been substantial industrial action, most recently the Berlitz Japan 2007-2008 Strike organized by Begunto, which grew into the longest and largest sustained strike among language teachers in Japan.

In 2010, employees of Berlitz language centers in Germany experienced a major labor conflict, as management planned to lay off nearly 70 contract teachers in order to economize with a fleet of freelancers.

On February 8, 2011, the German management team signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the GEW: The Union for Education and Science, settling all issues.

Criticism

In 1963 Berlitz was criticized by academics for teaching students only to speak the language, and failing to teach students grammar or to comprehend such things as the nuances of foreign-language poetry.

In the late 1980s there were complaints that the company’s competitors had overtaken them in adopting the internet and using CDs and video discs. There were also criticisms about the Berlitz In-house designed Instruction Manuals and many said they were not up-to-date. Somewhat tardily, Berlitz reacted. The instruction manuals were completely overhauled to be more suitable for modern executives. A very broad range of audio and video disks was introduced and made available to students. Cooperation with Time-Warner enabled a modern up-market Berlitz Magazine to be introduced and made available to students. Cooperation with Sesame Street enabled the Children’s instruction programs to be up-dated and made more attractive.

The innovations proved to be popular but there were still criticisms about the size and weight of the new instruction manuals. This time Berlitz acted more swiftly and the manuals were slimmed down physically to a manageable size. At the same time, the use of interactive computer programs to supplement students studies was widened and modernized.

External links

• Berlitz Corporate Homepage
• Berlitz Japan
• Berlitz 130 Years of Innovation
• ELS Language Center
• Benesse Corporate Homepage
• Corporations: The Language Merchants, June. 21, 1963, TIME