I speak 10 languages and have some knowledge of a few more. I recently visited Latvia. I do not speak any Latvian. I found that trying to learn a few phrases was useless. I either used English or Russian. I think it is just too difficult to use phrases in a language where you do not have any feel for that language. I think it is more useful to commit to trying to get used to the language, at least a little bit, by a heavy dose of listening and reading in the language. Modern computer technology and MP3 players make this easier, even for beginners.

I have an online language learning resource called LingQ (www.lingq.com). There are lots of MP3 files with transcripts and a unique language learning methodology based on my experience. It is kind of a web 2.0 language community, and as as long as you do not need the services of tutors, it is free.

I wonder, Sara, if you could list LingQ as another good online resource for language learning.