Linguaphone is a global language training provider, and has over 108 years in providing self-study language courses.

Part of the Linguaphone Group, Linguaphone’s portfolio of self-study language products are sold in over 60 countries worldwide. They produce a wide range of self-study language courses in 15 languages; available on CD, MP3 download and MP4 media players for students of all levels wanting to learn a new language.

Methodology

Linguaphone’s self-study courses follow Linguaphone's in-house methodology of 'Listen, Understand, Speak'. Students are encouraged to listen to the language from the beginning, to begin to read as they listen and only to speak once they have learnt to understand the language presented.

History

Linguaphone was established in 1901 by Jacques Roston, a translator and language teacher, born in Poland, (Koło), and they were the first language training company to recognise the potential of combining the traditional written course with the wax cylinder and later with records. At the height of their popularity, Linguaphone was not only a large, international publishing house with many prestigious representative offices (for books, records, tapes and cassettes) but they also ran fashionable language schools in a number of major cities across the world, such as London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. This chain of Linguaphone Institutes could claim to be the second oldest among the international language teaching establishments (the oldest being Berlitz, founded in 1878 and known today as Berlitz International, with the controversial Berlitz method) and, as such, Linguaphone had, at one time, the privilege of being an almost automatic first choice among the famous of the day, including Royalty. The schools that mainly catered for the business world and the diplomatic service, adapted the Linguaphone method to be used flexibly in combination with face-to-face tuition and the then new language laboratory. The tape recorders in these school language laboratories were specially designed (and patented) by Linguaphone to work on two separate tracks: a master track with the teachers' voices that could only be listened to but not erased, and another track for the students, where (in the gaps provided for the purpose) the students could record and erase their own voices as often as they liked or thought necessary. Teachers were also present to monitor the students' progress during these laboratory sessions and, when needed, they could give individual guidance through their headphones that were linked to a central monitoring tower in the middle of the laboratory. A further adaptation of this school method was then developed with the invention of the portable language laboratory, the so-called minilab, that could be rented for set periods (with cassettes instead of tapes). The minilabs became widely used for in-company language tuition as well as for regular language training at government departments and professional organisations, like the Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

 or the Institute of Directors

Institute of Directors

The Institute of Directors is a UK-based organisation, established in 1903 and incorporated by royal charter in 1906 to support, represent and set standards for company directors...

. Economic pressures, not least the ever-increasing competition, however, forced these schools out of business. The last one (with its own Executives Club licenced to sell alcoholic drinks to members and their guests even at hours when ordinary British catering establishments were strictly forbidden to do so) at 26-32 Oxford Street

Oxford Street

Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

, London W.1. UK, closed in September 1980.

Linguaphone Hong Kong

Linguaphone's Hong Kong branch was opened in 1961 , it gained much popularity during the 1970s 1980s because its recording system gave a flexible option to those who could not attend language courses at a fixed time and location. It also allowed students to listen to the material repeatedly at anytime they preferred during the course, which conventional education methods could not offer at the time in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. However, with the advent of the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 and popularisation of computers which facilitate an online and interactive learning experience ,, and other rivals such as Wall Street Institute

Wall Street Institute

Wall Street Institute is among the largest providersof English language instruction to adults and corporate clients around the world. WSI was established in 1972 in Italy by Italian Luigi Tiziano Peccenini...

 Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Linguaphone's Hong Kong branch suffered a steady decline since the early 2000s and eventually announced its liquidation

Liquidation

In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...

 on 17 January 2009.

Linguaphone Group English language training centres

Linguaphone GroupLinguaphone is part of the Linguaphone Group who have a global network of English language training centres for adults and children worldwide across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The Group has centers in Japan, France, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Portugal and India. Linguaphone China has over 20 centers, with the Easter China Area managed by Warren Ching, a Chinese American.(Warren Ching is a liar and there are now many links which indicate he used linguaphone to cheat people http://lgfwq.blog.sohu.com/135093777.html

Employee Unions

In the Japanese branch of Linguaphone, employees are represented by the union Tozen

Tozen

' is a Japanese labor union. Known as the Tokyo General Union, or , was formed in 2010, and is one of few foreign-led multiethnic unions in Japan...

.

External links

• http://www.linguaphonegroup.com/
• http://www.linguaphone.co.uk/
• http://www.linguaphone.com.cn/
• Linguaphone recordings from the British Library Sound Archive