Don't live and learn the hard way!

Well, things started in November of 2007 with a newly married couple looking for ways to make ends meet in this ever inflating-world and at the same time spend their time doing something they feel is fascinating and beneficial... so what was the answer?

As we had both spent years of our lives dedicated to learning and helping others learn languages, a website on sharing this information became the only answer.

As a couple, we felt that the methods used to teach oneself or a class another language are applicable to any language and thus set out on the monumental project of providing the world with a guide to learning and teaching any language. How exciting, the prospect of doing research on so many languages and investigating the resources that are available for each one...! The results are hoped to be stimulating and immensely useful, no matter what one's reason for learning another language.

The site hasn't quite paid for itself yet, and as we get to our one-year mark we're wondering whether it is worth it, but we do love learning languages and thus are determined to keep trying for another year or so.

While this site will hopefully be supported by commission made on products that are bought through Amazon or other linked sites, please know that the resources and products recommended herein have been truly compared and analyzed, with a genuine desire to bring you the best, share with you the secrets, and save you time, energy and emotion that is often lost on making common language learning mistakes.

How to best utilize this site?

Let's describe how to get the best out of this site with the use of a hypothetical language learner. Meet Wanda Speak.

Wanda is a typically busy member of the human race, getting up early to make the commute to work, barely has time to pick up a coffee as she walks from her parking spot to the office... and after a 9 to 5 day the last thing she wants is to go to a language class... in any case, what evening would she be able to fit that in?

What with the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, going out with her pals on Saturdays, and the odd evening with her boyfriend (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays)... Sunday is family day, no getting around it...! So where does she fit in some language learning, to stand out and just maybe make that group business trip to China this fall?

Well, LLL is the answer. One Monday evening when her boyfriend couldn't make it for dinner, Wanda stumbles across Live & Learn Languages and realizes we've got all the resources she needs and will save her BAGS of time! So she sticks with us. She orders the Pimsleur lessons and asks for some free flashcards. She signs up with ChinesePod or ChinesePod101 and downloads the lessons right away onto her ipod. She's ready to go!

Wanda gets up at 6am and first thing turns on the computer and goes to LLL's Chinese page. She clicks on the Chinese radio channel link and listens to the radio while she makes and has breakfast. On the way to work she pops the Pimslear lesson cd in and starts learning the basics, in just half an hour she'll be able to introduce herself and have a short conversation! As she walks to work and gets a coffee, she listens to the 10 minute ipod lesson and learns how to ask for food with no MSG! She practices it on the Chinese server who prepares her Latte and they have a good laugh - as if he would put MSG in her coffee!

At work she gets on with things, but can't help going over her new vocabulary in her mind. At lunch time she checks her emails and sees that the LLL flashcards have arrived, she prints them off and sticks them in her pocket. In the elevator on the way down, later that day, she takes them out and goes over them abit. Ah, that's how you say 'coffee'!

At the gym that night she meets Yué (a Chinese lady) and is happy for a chance to practice introducing herself... she makes a friend and looks forward even more now to Thursday when she can chat some more and practice what she's been learning. Yué is so pleased that someone is trying to learn Chinese and turns out to be a very obliging teacher when it comes to filling in Wanda's expanding vocabulary!

That night Wanda returns to LLL and checks out what's on the media recommendations... watches some Chinese tv online and recognizes "hello"... and in one show they even mention "coffee"! She watches the Chinese song video and follows along with the lyrics. She has a look at a Chinese recipe and decides to follow it the next time her boyfriend comes over.

And so the story goes, she keeps coming back to LLL and following the tips... that's right...

Wanda Speak doesn't live and learn the hard way, she LIVES her new language every day, through music, media and real live interaction ... LEARNS through good use of dictionaries, software, audio lesssons, and flashcards ... and most of all lets LLL guide her through the process.

Wanda gets to go to China and gets a raise. Meanwhile her boyfriend keeps "cancelling" on her so she dumps him. She decides to keep in touch with a nice Chinese guy she met while on the business trip... Wanda's Chinese keeps improving.

While Wanda chose to live and learn Chinese, she could have chosen to live and learn ANY language!

So can you. Right here, starting now.