Biography
Berlitz International, Inc, derives from an institution founded by Maximilian Berlitz in 1878, in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
It is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Berlitz teaches languages using Berlitz Method of Language Instruction. This "method" pioneered the direct method and what later became popularized as the audio lingual method. 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 or induct (see section on inductive and deductive teaching of grammar) grammatical rules from the input language provided, without necessarily being able to explain the rules overtly, while the audio-lingual approach advocates listening and speaking, rather than reading and writing, as the main mode of input and practice. Many years ago, this approach was seen as odd in a time when language-acquisition was seen as an intellectual or academic pursuit which required a knowledge of and familiarity with overt grammatical description. However, the Berlitz mix of direct method and audio-lingual and communicative approach became popular with adults who needed to become functional in a foreign language for business or professional reasons without the tedium of learning rules of grammar.
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