Ryan Meinzer needed to learn Japanese fast. He loved Rosetta Stone’s approach, but like many students he had no money…nor discipline to stay seated more than 5 minutes at a time.

“I wanted to learn Japanese in the many sporadic idle minutes of my day, one word at a time, one minute at a time,” says Meinzer, “…and I didn’t have the $300 for those attractive yellow Rosetta Stone boxes.”

Two years later, and two years more proficient in Japanese, Meinzer now runs his own language learning software company, PlaySay.com, which has served over 10 million digital vocabulary flashcard files to over 4,000 users worldwide. The online business currently offers products to learn Japanese, learn Chinese, and to learn Spanish, with many more languages to come. Many language departments of major universities across the United States are rapidly integrating the products into their curriculums for students. With the ability to trash their paper flashcards, students are raving about PlaySay.com. The Tokyo Metropolis and The Philadelphia Inquirer also seem to enjoy spreading the news of this cool new competitor of Rosetta Stone.

“Rosetta Stone is great for language learners who have discipline, time, and money,” says Meinzer, “PlaySay.com, however, is for the other 99% of us.”

PlaySay.com’s products can be used anytime and anywhere, on any mobile device (iPod, cell phone, PDA, etc.). The company’s mission is to empower busy people to extract value from any idle minute with the most practical language learning on the go.

What is unique about Meinzer’s model is that he in no way denies that Rosetta Stone’s language learning method is superior to PlaySay.com’s. He simply argues that practicality is lost due to the intimidating amount of discipline and time needed for Rosetta Stone. He attests that the majority of people buying the pricey yellow Rosetta Stone boxes end up allowing them to collect dust after a few weeks, just as those pricey exercise machines they purchased for a New Year’s Resolution.

This New Year, let’s make a resolution we can all keep – to learn how to say “Thank You” to the Japanese, Chinese, or Spanish friend of ours in their native language by learning it on our cell phone with a PlaySay.com product. That has to be easier than losing 20 pounds or quitting smoking.