| Charles Berlitz | |
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Charles Berlitz (right) with Antonio Las Heras ("Pájaro de Fuego" magazine) |
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| Born | November 20, 1914 New York City, USA |
| Died | December 18, 2003 Tamarac, Florida |
| Occupation | Linguist, author |
| Spouse | Valerie Seary |
Charles Frambach Berlitz (November 20, 1914 – December 18, 2003) was an American linguist and language teacher[1] known for his books on anomalous phenomena, as well as his language-learning courses. He is listed in The People's Almanac as one of the fifteen most eminent linguists in the world.[2]
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Berlitz was born in New York City. He was the grandson of Maximilien (Maximilian) Berlitz, who founded the Berlitz Language Schools. As a child, Charles was raised in a household in which (by his father's orders) every relative and servant spoke to Charles in a different language: he reached adolescence speaking eight languages fluently. In adulthood, he recalled having had the childhood delusion that every human being spoke a different language, and wondering why he did not have his own language like everyone else in his household. His father spoke to him in German, his grandfather in Russian, his nanny in Spanish.
He began working for the family language school, The Berlitz School of Languages, during college breaks. The publishing house, of which he was vice president, sold, among other things, tourist phrase books and pocket dictionaries, several of which he authored. He also played a key role in developing record and tape language courses. He left the company in the late 1960s, not long after he sold the company to publishing firm Crowell, Collier & Macmillan. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University.[3]
Berlitz was a writer on anomalous phenomena, he wrote a number of books on Atlantis. In his book The Mystery of Atlantis, he used evidence from geophysics, psychic studies, classical literature, tribal lore, archeology and mysteries and concluded that Atlantis was real.[4] Berlitz also linked the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle to the influence of Atlantis.[5]After studying evidence, Berlitz located Atlantis undersea in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. Berlitz was also an ancient astronaut proponent who believed that extraterrestrials had visited earth.[6]
Berlitz spent 13 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, mostly in intelligence. In 1950, he married Valerie Seary, with whom he had a daughter, Lynn. He died in 2003 at the age of 89 at University Hospital in Tamarac, Florida.[7]