Demand for 'Spoken English' Grows Even in the AI Era: QQEnglish Surpasses 50 Million Total Lessons

QQEnglish (Headquarters: Shinjuku, Tokyo; CEO: Yorimitsu Fujioka) announced that as of April 2026, the cumulative number of lessons provided through its online English conversation and Cebu study-abroad programs has exceeded 50 million. To commemorate this milestone, the company will launch a user-participation campaign starting Wednesday, May 27, 2026, where users can win a study-abroad trip to Cebu by posting their "total lesson count and memories," or a "one year of free daily lessons" by posting their "dreams to achieve through English." Starting in 2009 from a small classroom in Cebu, Philippines, QQEnglish has supported the English learning of over 800,000 students across more than 30 countries over the past 17 years. In the AI era, the value of "spoken English" is being re-evaluated. While translation AI has lowered the barrier to "understanding English," the need for "the ability to express oneself in one's own words" and "dialogue skills" remains critical in fields such as international sales, business trips, customer service, and university studies abroad. QQEnglish provides opportunities to acquire "actually usable English" rather than just "known English" through one-on-one lessons with Filipino teachers. The annual lesson count, which was 2,479 in 2009, surpassed 10.58 million in 2025, reaching the 50 million mark in April 2026. Currently, QQEnglish employs over 3,000 Filipino teachers as full-time staff. All teachers hold TESOL certification and undergo over 500 hours of training before their debut. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the study-abroad business was halted, QQEnglish did not lay off a single teacher, shifting 100% to online services to maintain employment and quality. CEO Yorimitsu Fujioka stated, "50 million is not the goal, but the start of a new challenge." The campaign runs from May 27 to June 21, 2026.