Talk:Berlitz Corporation

Berlitz translators in Gameboy?!
Yeah... I came across 2 Berlitz-produced "games" in gameboy not too long ago. Thought Wikipedia might like to know, because i don't know what else to do with it. --Kitetsu 03:43, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

The Ownership section needs some serious cleaning up and revamping. Whoever wrote it the first time didn't spell very well and came off as quite biased. I PC'd it up a bit, but someone who actually understands the history needs to fix it.

The article should discuss more recent history of the school and their problem in Japan with questionable contracts. http://generalunion.org/news2003.htm

BERLITZ CONTRACTS
At a recent round of Collective Bargaining with Berlitz, the General Union (of Japan) Berlitz Branch made one simple request; provide instructors with clear contracts with fixed schedules.

You'd think that a company with a reputation to maintain and a long history behind it wouldn't have to be asked to implement such a simple working practice but you'd be surprised. Berlitz's official response to the union's request was this:

Due to the unique nature of our business in this regard we find that it is difficult, at the moment, to offer contracts with fixed schedules. The Company however recognizes the concerns of our PL (pay per lesson) instructors and that this is therefore an issue that needs to be addressed. Although at this point we are unable to offer a fixed guarantee, we would like to:

Continue our best efforts to ensure that teachers receive enough lessons.

Continue organizing events to try to increase students.

Introduce a campaign that focuses on re-enrollment.

Human Resources will communicate more with its Language Centers to prevent overstaffing.

Human Resources will also look at the possibility of introducing new Full-time and Part-time contracts with fixed schedules.

The Berlitz Branch has, as the saying goes 'heard it all before' and would have preferred a simple 'NO' to this collection of regurgitated excuses. The General Union has been very patient with Berlitz on this matter and can only be patient for so long. Members are struggling to make ends meet simply because Berlitz does not want to do what all of the other major chain schools have done and provide a clear working contract. Our request to Berlitz is one of the most fundamental labor agreements made between an employer and employee. It is regarded as important enough that it is governed by both the Labour Standards and Part-time Workers' Law.

If you can answer yes to the following questions then you might want to consider a career at Berlitz.

Can you join a company that offers the possibility of some lessons at some time but with no guarantees?

Can you provide an availability of over 80 hours per week?

Can you work without a set working schedule?

Can you call your school every evening to check if you have work on the following day?

Berlitz Japan is the real diamond of Berlitz International and even more so for its parent company the Benesse Corporation who are funding the recent expansion of Berlitz's new Language Centers. It looks as if the General Union will have to involve the parent company.

I think links to similar companies should be included at the bottom of the page if this article retains its commercial character. The criticism area should be expanded to include either links to other second language teaching methods or a discussion of "the Berlitz method" in relation to more "modern" approaches to language learning. In fact, Berlitz is nothing more than a "brand name" in second language learning. The argument can and should be made that Berlitz in not a method, but is a franchise like McDonald's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Racaroc (talk • contribs) 16:43, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Time to Improve this article
The article sorely needs improvement.

This article is a great start for an unbiased and fair representation of the Berlitz global entity, but it still has a long way to go. The article needs to be cleaned up extensively by adding citations for the historical background and current statistics. As it stands, aside from some of the criticisms, it sounds mostly like a marketing piece. There is not a place in Wikipedia for scores of paragraphs of information with no credible sources and/or citations. In fact, almost every section should be tagged with a "needs citation" label. I removed some of the most blantant marketing jargon from one section that claimed that Berlitz is "most effective." That's a big no-no unless a scientific unbiased study states such. But the other sections are entirely positive about the history, and therefore should have citations. As it stands, most of it sounds like it came straight from the Berlitz website. That is not appropriate for Wikipedia. Computer1200 (talk) 15:24, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Travel Guides
Shouldn't there be a chapter abuout Berlitz travel guides? Most people -at least in my country that is- will know Berlitz mainly for their low-budget travel guides, since every bookstore in every city sells them and many will be unaware of the existence of language schools by the same name. --Quarconi (talk) 01:41, 9 October 2010 (UTC) Berlitz Byki! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yankees317 (talk • contribs) 02:07, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Berlitz International - company name change
As of November 2010 Berlitz International changed its name to Berlitz Corporation. What is the procedure in either editing / moving the Berlitz International title that was already created for this page?

BCJ Aoyama (talk) 15:46, 18 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I have done it for you. "Berlitz International" is left as a redirect to this title. JohnCD (talk) 16:24, 18 February 2011 (UTC)