photo: Josh Landis, National Science Foundation
South Pole residents like this one are now learning to speak foreign languages online at Parlo.

When it comes to distance learning, Noelle Lalario and Meg Davis may be setting a new record. Although they're confined to a snow-bound building in the coldest and most remote place on earth, they're learning to speak new languages using interactive lessons from Parlo's New York City.

Lalario, Davis and their coworkers are now hunkered down for the long and sunless polar winter at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where the thermometer outside dips well below the temperatures found in most freezers.

Because of these conditions, McMurdo residents are always looking for interesting ways to spend their free time. They've now discovered one of the most rewarding activities yet — studying online with Parlo Inc. (www.Parlo.com).

"People down here jumped on the opportunity to use Parlo. What a great chance for us to learn a language!" said Lalario, who works for Raytheon Polar Services at McMurdo.

Some of the workers plan to put their new skills to work during vacations after their polar assignments. "I'm planning to visit my brother in Venezuela after leaving Antarctica," said Meg Davis, who works for Raytheon in the supply department. "It's great to have Parlo available to help me improve my very rusty Spanish."

"We have several hundred employees who remain in Antarctica (at McMurdo and other locations) throughout the long dark winter months. We're delighted with the opportunity to provide online language instruction for them," said Elaine Hood, a US-based spokesperson for Raytheon Polar Services, a contractor for the National Science Foundation's US Antarctic Program.

"The personnel at the South Pole are doing important and demanding work. We're proud to provide them with a fun and educational way to spend their free time," said Varun Bedi, co-CEO of Parlo.

"Parlo has now sold its e-learning services on all seven continents. This demonstrates the power of Parlo's business model. We offer popular products that are in global demand - and we can both sell and deliver them entirely via the Internet," Bedi added.

With penguins far outnumbering people, the South Pole offers few opportunities for in-person language tutoring. And ordering language books, tapes or CD-roms is usually not an option. Shipping anything to Antarctica is expensive at the best of times and impossible for most of the polar winter. Online education provides an effective but weightless alternative that requires no shipping, just an Internet hookup, available via satellite at McMurdo.

Raytheon's employees can now study Spanish, French, German, Italian and English via Parlo's in-depth online courses and unique "e-Lessons" — interactive and audio-enhanced lessons delivered by email. These effective and convenient instructional materials include cultural tips, travel and business vocabulary, interactive simulations of common situations, dialogues and quizzes.

Based in New York City, Parlo uses its unique Virtual Immersion^TM approach to teach languages over the Internet and has been honored as the leading language learning site by both Yahoo! Internet Life and Condé Nast Traveler. Parlo's customers include corporations and consumers in 46 countries. Worldwide, 500,000 online learners are now studying languages with the company.

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