Headquartered in Seattle, Washington,[4] the company publishes interactive computer software, books, audio programs and phrase guides for 20 different languages.

Seeing that the traditional academic methods, designed for those majoring in the language, were not best suited to help her students achieve their goals she decided to develop a way to learn, in a short amount of time, practical and relevant conversation skills they could use.

In 2004, the company continued its expansion by publishing audio programs for its Spanish, French, German and Italian titles.

[10] In 2003, as part of the company's commitment to support U.S. military forces deployed to Iraq, Arabic a Language Map was released.

[4][8] The company hires native speakers, educators, and professional translators from various countries for each project to collaboratively review all aspects of the language, including grammar, spelling, pronunciation and artwork.

[7][17][18] Drawings of countries' currencies, signs and everyday items from food to clothing are among the visual associations constructed into the program.