Richard Lewis has been active in the fields of applied and anthropological linguistics for over 35 years. His work in several fields of communicative studies has involved him in the organization of courses and seminars for many of the world's leading industrial and financial companies.

In 1961 he pioneered the world's first English by Television series, produced by Suomen Televisio and subsequently was script writer for the first BBC series, "Walter and Connie" in 1962.

He has lived and worked in several European countries, where his clients included ABB, Allianz, Banco de Espana, Banque de France, Deutsche Bank, Ericsson, Fiat, Gillette, IBM, Mercedes Benz, Nestle, Nokia, Saab and Volvo.

He also spent 5 years in Japan where he was tutor to Empress Michiko and other members of the Japanese Imperial Family. During this period, his services were requested by firms such as Nomura, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Sanyo, Mitsui and Nippon Steel.

More recently he has been heavily involved in the intercultural field, founding companies in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Brazil, teaching communication skills in these countries as well as in Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Mr Lewis, who speaks 10 European and 2 Asiatic languages, is currently chairman of Richard Lewis Communications plc. His recent book "When Cultures Collide" - a manual on how to manage successfully across cultures - has sold over 40,000 copies.

Mr Lewis was knighted by President Ahtisaari of Finland in March 1997.

Academic Qualifications
B.A. French, Spanish, Italian
Diploma in Education
Diplome de Culture et Civilisation (Sorbonne)

Career
1955 Founded Berlitz Schools of Finland, M.D. 1955-1958
1958 Founded Berlitz Schools of Norway
1959 Founded Berlitz Schools of Portugal, M.D. 1959-1963
1963-65 M.D. Berlitz Schools of Great Britain
1966 Founded Berlitz Schools of East Asia (in Tokyo) Executive Vice President (CEO)
1967-70 Private tutor to Empress Michiko and five other members Japanese Imperial Family
1971 Founded Linguarama at Riversdown House, near Winchester.
1971-86 Chairman and CEO of Linguarama. Opened 35 schools in 12 countries including Japan
1986 Linguarama went public. Continued for one year as CEO.
1987 Became non-Executive Chairman
1988 (Dec) Left Linguarama
1989 (up to date) Acted as international language consultant
1990 Founded Richard Lewis Communications plc
1995 Launched Cross Cultural Letter to International Managers (distributed 10 times a year)
1996 Designed Cross Cultural Pre-Selection Test (assessing a person's suitability for overseas posts)

Publications
Reading for Adults 1, 2 and 3 (Longman)
Vous-souvenez-vous? (Publitur)
Cambridge 2000 (Livraria Franco)
English You Need (Livraria Franco)
Nihongo 2000 (Riversdown Publications)
Business is Business (Editor) (Riversdown Publications)
Suomen Kirja (Finnish grammar) (Berlitz)
The Billingers
Finland - Cultural Lone Wolf (Otava)
When Cultures Collide (Nicholas Brealey, 1996)
The Road from Wigan Pier: Memoirs of a linguist (Transcreen Publications, 1998)
Cross Cultural Communication: A Visual Approach (Transcreen Publications, 1999)
The Cultural Imperative (Intercultural Press, 2002)
Round the World in 80 Jokes (forthcoming)

Broadcasting
1953-55 News announcer West German Radio
1960-61 Wrote TV series "English Can Be Fun" (Finnish National Television)
1962 Scriptwriter for BBC series "Walter and Connie" (English by TV)
1985 BBC production "Person to Person" (wrote concept)