The inlingua method

No more tedious vocabulary training: the inlingua method establishes a direct connection between the intellectual imagination and the phonetic expression of the target language.

Until the end of the 19th century, languages were taught by placing an emphasis on grammatical analysis. The primary method of practice was translating, that is to say a tedious process of coding and decoding words through standardized patterns of thought.

Direct connection between thought and speech

Not until the turn of the century did people begin to realize that translating was an unnecessary step on the way to active mastery of a new language. It was thought, instead, that a direct connection between the intellectual imagination and the phonetic expression of the target language could be created: the “direct method” was born!

The first private language schools originated as a result of this new knowledge. When the largest of these was sold to a U.S. company in 1968, the majority of the European-owned institutes, who were not in agreement with the takeover, decided to remain independent. These institutions formed a new organization called inlingua.

inlingua worked on further developments of the direct method, in which practical language mastery within the shortest possible time was preferred. Certain elements from “suggestopedia” and other teaching methods, as well as modern media support, were also incorporated into the didactic concept of inlingua.