The human edge in the age of AI

For almost 150 years, Berlitz has taught people not just how to speak a language but how to connect. Today, as artificial intelligence reshapes the learning landscape, Berlitz is asking a bigger question: How can technology enhance, not replace, the human experience of learning?

Intentional AI use for real communication

AI is the biggest shift since we brought lessons online. But at Berlitz, we’re not just adding technology because it’s trendy. We’re using it intentionally... to help learners speak with confidence and to prepare them for real human interaction.

Jon Hritz, Berlitz Director of Global Product

This philosophy defines Berlitz’s approach to integrating AI across its learning platform, MyBerlitz: strategic and grounded in pedagogical expertise.

From streaks to speaking time

While many apps celebrate streaks and points, Berlitz measures something far more meaningful, speaking time.

“Consistency matters. But a streak doesn’t tell you if you can actually communicate. We measure real progress, how much you’re speaking, how clearly, and how confidently.”

Berlitz’s data supports the impact. Since launching AI-powered speaking tools, learners now spend three to six hours per month actively practicing far more than typical self-study app users. Every minute of speaking time translates into tangible fluency gains and stronger learner confidence.

It’s a philosophy that prioritizes outcomes over optics. Berlitz isn’t chasing engagement for engagement’s sake, it’s measuring what truly drives progress: authentic conversation.

Teaching AI to teach the Berlitz way

AI can do many things well, but Berlitz believes the difference lies in how it’s trained.

AI trained with decades of expertise

The beauty of having a long history of teaching languages is that we know what works. We train each AI tool individually, like an actor staying in character.

Jon Hritz, Berlitz Director of Global Product

That means when a learner is practicing German, the Berlitz AI stays fully immersed in German. If the learner slips into their native language, the AI gently corrects them, never translating or breaking script. It’s all part of reinforcing the Berlitz Method, the company’s signature immersive approach that has helped millions achieve fluency since 1878.

This meticulous training also ensures that each speaking goal, the central outcome of every Berlitz lesson, has its own customized AI support. The result is a tool that doesn’t just sound intelligent, but teaches intelligently, staying faithful to Berlitz’s pedagogy and ensuring a seamless learner experience from digital to live instruction.

The confidence loop: AI meets instructor insight

Hritz describes Berlitz’s approach as a confidence loop, where AI practice and human instruction reinforce one another.

After completing a lesson, learners can immediately practice with the AI-powered Speaking Tutor, designed to simulate real conversation and prepare them for live sessions.

“The AI gives you a safe space to try, fail, and try again. Then, when you meet your instructor, you’re ready to speak with confidence.”

This cycle creates measurable progress. AI tracks vocabulary use, pronunciation accuracy, and fluency over time, data that instructors can use to personalize live coaching. It’s an elegant blend of analytics and empathy: technology providing objective feedback, and humans providing emotional insight.

In Hritz’s words, “The goal isn’t to replace instructors; it’s to make every human interaction more impactful.”

Responsible innovation and human oversight

With every technological advancement comes responsibility and Berlitz treats this seriously. “There’s understandable concern about AI. So we’re very cautious. Every tool is tested, vetted, and designed with privacy and GDPR compliance in mind.”

But responsibility, he adds, goes beyond regulation.“Being responsible means keeping humans involved. That’s how you stay accountable. We’ve taught languages for 147 years without AI. It’s not required. We only use it when it truly helps learners reach their goals and enhance their language learning journey.”

That blend of innovation and prudence defines Berlitz’s ethos: integrating new technology only where it enhances human learning, not where it diminishes it.

Emotional Intelligence: The human multiplier

AI can correct pronunciation and track fluency but it can’t read a learner’s hesitation or frustration. Berlitz instructors can.

Human connection makes all the difference

The human instructor notices when someone struggles and knows how to encourage them. That empathy, that ability to connect, is irreplaceable.

Jon Hritz, Berlitz Director of Global Product

Beyond language, Berlitz’s lessons also teach cultural fluency and emotional intelligence, which are essential skills for global communication that no algorithm can replicate.

As Hritz puts it, “AI might help you say the right words, but only a human can teach you when and how to use them.”

The next frontier of intelligent, human-centered learning

Looking ahead, Berlitz is expanding its AI capabilities to deepen personalization and engagement. Video avatars, interactive role plays, and skill-based modules (like how to run a meeting in another language) are already in development or live. AI-powered analytics will soon help instructors track and optimize their teaching talk-time, ensuring learners get more opportunities to speak, the true key to fluency.

But accessibility and inclusion remain top of mind. “Not everyone has access to expensive hardware like VR,” Hritz notes. “So we focus on scalable innovation, tools that make learning more personal without making it less accessible.”

Ultimately, Berlitz’s vision is to make AI a partner in human progress, not a substitute for it.

“For me, it’s about personalization,” Hritz concludes. “Every learner has unique goals and motivations. We’re building a system that adapts to them combining AI’s precision with human empathy to help every learner grow.”

 

 

A future rooted in legacy

For Berlitz, innovation has never been about chasing the next big thing. It’s about continuing an almost 150-year legacy of helping people speak with confidence, connect across cultures, and understand each other better.

In a world racing toward automation, Berlitz is reminding the education sector of a simple truth: The future of learning isn’t human or artificial; it’s human and intelligent.