However, the shortage of trained professionals to teach English is a major challenge for the players operating in this market.
New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (China)
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Beijing, China, New Oriental Education & Technology Group is a provider of private educational services that offers educational programs, services, and products. The company’s primary products include English and other foreign language training, overseas and domestic test preparation courses, all-subjects after-school tutoring, primary and secondary school education, educational content and software, and online education. The company offers online education, content development & distribution, overseas study consulting services, pre-school education, primary & secondary school education, and study tours. New Oriental operates in the English language learning market through its Educational Programs and Services and Books and Other Services segments. It offers language training courses, mostly through the offline methodology.
McGraw-Hill Education, Inc. (U.S.)
Founded in 1888 and headquartered in New York, U.S., McGraw-Hill Education, Inc. provides outcome-focused learning solutions focusing on curated content and digital learning tools and platforms. The company operates through four reportable segments, namely, Higher Education, K-12, International, and Professional. The Higher Education segment offers adaptive digital learning tools, digital platforms, custom publishing solutions, and traditional printed textbook products. The K-12 segment offers blended print and digital solutions. The International segment offers products and services to educational, professional, and English language teaching markets.
In the English language learning market, the company operates through the Higher Education, K-12, and International segments and offers digital learning and blended solutions such as ELLevate English and New Interactions.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company (U.S.)
Founded in 1832 and headquartered in Massachusetts, U.S., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction & non-fiction for both young readers & adults. The company offers K–12 core curriculums, supplemental and intervention solutions, and professional learning services. It operates through two reportable segments, namely, Education and HMH Books & Media, formerly referred to as Trade Publishing. Houghton operates in the English language learning market through the Education segment, which specializes in comprehensive core curriculums, supplemental & intervention solutions, and supports professional learning & coaching for educators & administrators.
Cambridge University Press (U.K.)
Founded in 1534 and headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge University Press, a part of the University of Cambridge, is a publishing organization that supports innovation in learning and teaching and offers learning & research solutions. The company’s peer-reviewed publishing lists comprise over 53,000 titles covering academic research, professional development, over 350 research journals, school-level education, English language teaching, and bible publishing. The company operates in the English language learning market by offering English courses and supplementary materials for learners, teachers, educational institutions, and employers of all age groups via online, offline, and blended learning platforms.
Duolingo, Inc. (U.S.)
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Pennsylvania, U.S., Duolingo provides language education platforms through mobile apps and websites for schools, universities, and individual learners. The company offers personalized game-like lessons, bite-sized lessons, flashcards, podcasts, and English tests for language proficiency assessment. In addition, the company’s incubator platform allows bi-linguists to share their knowledge about language to build new courses.
Duolingo provides a wide range of products, including Duolingo for Schools, Duolingo English Test, Duolingo ABC, Duolingo Events, Duolingo Math, Podcasts, Stories, and Duolingo for Business. Additionally, the company also offers a wide range of language courses, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Turkish, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Greek, Hebrew, Polish, Norwegian, Vietnamese, Danish, Romanian, High Valyrian, Esperanto, Swahili, Hungarian, Welsh, Ukrainian, Klingon, Czech, Hindi, Hawaiian, Indonesian, and Arabic.
Berlitz Corporation (U.S.)
Founded in 1878 and headquartered in New Jersey, U.S., Berlitz is a provider of language training and intercultural communication services for adults, kids, corporations, institutional students, governments, and schools. It operates as a subsidiary of Benesse Holdings, Inc. (Japan), which operates through five business segments: Education Business in Japan, Global Kodomo Challenge Business, Nursing Care and Childcare Business, Berlitz Business, and Others.
Berlitz offers corporate solutions, such as language, assessment, testing, multicultural environment, and leadership training services. It also provides individual programs, including individual language instruction, business communication skill training, and language programs for kids and teens through its summer programs, private tutoring, group programs, after-school programs, and language solutions for governments and institutions. The company offers language classes across the U.S. and online language classes globally.
Busuu Ltd (U.K.)
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in the Community of Madrid, Spain, Busuu, a subsidiary of Chegg, Inc., provides online language learning courses for 12 different languages on the web and mobile to more than 100 million learners worldwide. It offers high-quality language courses from beginner to upper-intermediate levels. The company’s online platform allows users to learn and practice language skills directly with native speakers worldwide. Furthermore, Busuu provides premium membership features, such as advanced grammar lessons, offline learning, quizzes, travel courses, and adaptive vocabulary trainers for language learning.
Busuu offers both mobile and web-based language learning. Additionally, the company’s offline mode enables learners to learn lessons without an internet connection.
Babbel GmbH (Germany)
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Babbel is a German subscription-based language learning software and an e-learning platform available in various languages. It offers online platforms centered around learning a language through real-life conversations. The company has created 13,000 hours of content and more than 50,000 lessons across 14 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Indonesian, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, and Turkish. Furthermore, the company provides bite-sized lessons, relevant vocabulary, interactive platforms with native speakers, and speech recognition technology for correct pronunciation.
Babbel’s language learning ecosystem consists of a self-study program, Babbel Live virtual classes, multiple audio formats, and the award-winning Babbel Podcasts, all of which are grounded in an expert-led learning methodology. Babbel for Business offers corporate clients a language learning platform with the same expert-led foundation. The company offers its Babbel language learning app for web, iOS, and Android and makes learning 14 different languages from eight display languages easy.
Linguistica 360, Inc. (U.S.)
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Cambridge, U.S., Linguistica 360 is dedicated to creating original programs to provide an effective and innovative approach to studying languages. The company hosts weekly language learning shows and offers educational material. Linguistica mainly focuses on entertainment, information, and engagement. It offers various subscription levels, from an audio-only podcast to rigorous educational courses, including interactive transcripts, grammar and expressions lessons, grammar quizzes, and pronunciation for various languages, including English.
ELSA Corp. (U.S.)
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in California, U.S., ELSA Corp. is engaged in providing foreign language solutions. The company operates in the e-learning market by offering ELSA (English Language Speech Assistant), which is an A.I. assistant for pronunciation training and accent reduction, and ELSA Speak, a personal virtual pronunciation coach. ELSA specializes in speech recognition, artificial intelligence, mobile applications, and language coaching. The company offers English language learning solutions to individual learners and business organizations. It offers A.I. assistance for pronunciation training and accent reduction that helps users speak English using advanced speech recognition technology.
ELSA has a global presence through offices across Portugal, Vietnam, the U.S., and India and has approximately 3,656,000 users in 101 countries, enabling 1.5 billion global English learners to increase their language fluency.