Bilingual Books, Inc. is a privately held publishing company that develops foreign language learning products. Headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, the company publishes interactive computer software, books, audio programs and phrase guides for 20 different languages. Retrieved 5 April 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.

History

Bilingual Books, Inc. was founded in 1981 by Kristine K. Kershul, a language scholar and teacher planning a career in academia and working towards a doctorate in Medieval German Languages and Literature. While teaching at the university level, she observed that the majority of her students were learning a foreign language for personal reasons such as an upcoming trip abroad, researching family history, or dating someone who spoke the language. 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.Luce, Beth. "Do you speak...? Language books translate in to success", '' Costco Connection'', June 2004. Bilingual Books German in 10 Minutes a Day

Bilingual Books German in 10 Minutes a Day

Kershul authored her first book, ''German in 10 Minutes a Day'', with the intention to return to her academic career, but the success of the publication became the catalyst for more books in other languages and within a year, the Seattle company began worldwide distribution with five titles, adding

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

.Gulick, Alan. "Unknown to many, Bilingual Books is worldwide operation", ''

Ballard News-Tribune The ''Ballard News-Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Ballard, Seattle, Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. It was founded in 1891 and has a circulation of 9,500. It is one of the Robinson Newspapers, a group ...

'', 3 April 1985.Rumley, Larry. "Linguists have quick method to improve Americans' image", ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'', January 1982. The company was sold to Sunset Books and Magazine in 1988 and seven years later, in 1995, Kershul reacquired it. In 1999, the first Language Maps were published in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

, as an alternative to traditional phrase guides. In 2004, the company continued its expansion by publishing audio programs for its

and

titles. Beginning in 2007, Bilingual Books developed computer software as a complement to the 10 Minutes a Day books. By 2011, the company had published more than 50 titles in 20 languages.

Support to military

In 2003, as part of the company's commitment to support U.S. military forces deployed to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, ''Arabic a Language Map'' was released. In 2010, a

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

version of the Language Map was released for troops serving in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. A

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

version followed in 2011.

Registered trademarks

In April 1986, the "10 minutes a day"

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

was registered in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to Bilingual Books. The "Language Map" trademark was registered May 2005 in the

, July 2005 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and January 2006 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Offices

Bilingual Books, Inc. is headquartered in

in the Nordby Building at Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal. All employees speak more than one language, have taught or tutored a language and have traveled abroad.

Consultants

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.Butterworth, Beverly H. "Fast Accent", ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'', 10 May 1989.

Production, warehouse and distribution

All production is executed wholly in the United States. Warehouses are maintained in Canada, England, Seattle, Washington and Jackson, Tennessee. Key distributors for the company include

Raincoast Books Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and ...

in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Gazelle Books in Lancaster, England and

Publishers Group West Publishers Group West (PGW) is a book distributor founded in 1976 in Berkeley, California that has been owned by Ingram Content Group since 2016. They share their parent company's warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee and sales offices in New York, Toro ...

in California.

Methodology

The ''10 minutes a day'' method teaches the basics of the language in 10-minute daily chunks. As the program progresses, it gradually incorporates more of the foreign language, building step-by-step, until the program is almost completely taught in the foreign language. The method differs from the intensive grammar method of traditional language textbooks required in classroom study. It teaches patterns instead of complicated grammar rules and uses colorful visuals along with various study tools.Dhyan, Lee. "Language for Travelers Earns Praise and Profits for Ex-Teacher Kris Kershul", ''Northwest Women in Business'', Nov/Dec 1987.Bossick, Karen. "Workbooks make game of language", ''

The Idaho Statesman The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynold ...

'', 19 March 1985. Drawings of countries' currencies, signs and everyday items from food to clothing are among the visual associations constructed into the program. The method engages different learning styles (

visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...

, auditory and

kinesthetic Proprioception ( ) is the sense of self-movement, force, and body position. Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, a type of sensory receptor, located within muscles, tendons, and joints. Most animals possess multiple subtypes of propri ...

) with computer software games, audio, sticky labels (peel-off stick-on vocabulary labels), cut-out menu guides, flashcards and word games.

Products

The company publishes 50 titles, 20 languages and three product lines, including the 10 Minutes a Day Book Series, the 10 Minutes a Day Audio Series and the Language Map Series.

Languages

Bilingual Books, Inc. publishes products for the following 20 languages:

References

External links

Official Website

Kristine Kershul
{{Authority control Language education publishing companies Language learning software Book publishing companies based in Seattle Publishing companies established in 1981 Bilingual books