John Tyler, managing director of Inlingua Thailand, said Inlingua International was established more than 40 years ago in Switzerland by some like-minded school owners who pooled resources to improve the quality of materials, instruction and professionalism in the language-school business.

Now there are more than 400 schools in more than 40 countries. Inlingua established a Bangkok branch in 1988, and now it has 20 branches across Thailand. Most are in Bangkok, but Inlingua also has schools in Hat Yai, Nakhon Ratchasima and Udon Thani.

“Both the number of students per branch and the number of branches has [have] been growing consistently since we opened – just about one branch per year for the last 19 years,” Tyler said.

“Our most recent branch is the one in central Salaya. Presently there are over 12,000 people, kids and adults, studying in Inlingua schools in Bangkok and thousands more in major companies around Thailand who use the Inlingua corporate training department for their language-training needs.”

He said that when the right locations become available Inlingua would continue to set up schools to meet the needs of people in Bangkok.

“We have already signed a contract to open next year in IconSiam and are always looking for new locations. The present growth rate is about the level we are happy to continue – about one branch per year. This means we can make sure we keep quality up, and also provide the opportunity for people to study without wasting valuable time travelling.

“As the Inlingua schools are fitted out to the very highest standards – similar to five-star hotels – each branch costs around Bt10 million to set up. Revenue is not a major target when opening new schools, but we expect each school to be able to be meet its own costs and have a reasonable return on investment once established,” he said.

Tyler acknowledged that the number of language schools was growing in Thailand, creating more competition. Also there is a greater focus on other activities – tutoring, child development and music, for example. However, the need for language skills continues to grow as well, so Inlingua’s market position is strong.

“We have been around for many years and have built up a large following of happy customers who continue to recommend Inlingua.

“Additionally, while you might think that the growth of bilingual and international schools would negatively affect the language-school business, in fact it represents an opportunity. The students there need good language skills to get good grades, and when they do exams like IGCSEs [International General Certificates of Secondary Education], Thai students are effectively competing with native speakers – so need to get their language skills up to the same level,” Tyler said.

He said he himself first came to Thailand to work in the language-school business more than 20 years ago, and that the level had certainly improved massively since then. However, overall language ability is still a weakness if Thailand is to make the most of its participation in the Asean Economic Community.

Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar have traditionally had better English skills, and people in newly opened countries including Vietnam and Laos are highly motivated to learn and are catching up quickly.

“Recently I have made several trips in the region to look at the possibility of opening Inlingua schools in this region, and we feel that Myanmar has the most potential,” he said.

“The market is already quite developed in Cambodia and Vietnam – but Myanmar is just re-establishing itself as an economic power and, as yet, has a limited number of language schools. We are looking for the right locations and partners there and expect to get something off the ground in the next few years.”