Progress starts with understanding
We take the experience we’ve gained over the last 140+ years to give you the language skills, cultural understanding and confidence to open up a world full of new opportunities and enriching experiences – and help you, your business and the world make the connections that open the world to possibilities.
We believe in the power of language and cultural understanding to drive human progress.
Opening the world since 1878
After emigrating from Germany in 1870, the founder of our company, Maximilian Berlitz, seized the opportunity to teach language lessons in the United States. Born into a family of educators and mathematicians, he leveraged his exceptional language skills to teach Greek, Latin, and six other European languages.
Following several years of private tutoring, he joined Warner Polytechnic College in Providence, Rhode Island, where he became a French and German instructor. Upon hiring an assistant who only spoke French, Berlitz realized that the traditional ‘grammar translation’ method wasn’t as effective as immediately incorporating the new language into conversation. From there, he began using a more immersive teaching approach in his classes, thus giving birth to the Berlitz Method.
Evolving for a changing world.
Initially focused on delivering language lessons to travelers and individual students, over the years, Berlitz has evolved to assist a range of students, businesses, schools, and governments in embracing language as the key to communication, connection, and cultural understanding.
Whether for working professionals or families relocating abroad, Berlitz offers personalized learning paths that fit your style, location, and goals, providing an immersive experience of cultural and linguistic learning that can help open your world to new opportunities.