Live it China
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Social networking service |
| Available in | Multilingual (70) |
| Founded | December 4, 2011 |
| Headquarters | Cyberport, Hong Kong, H.K. SAR |
| Area served | Worldwide (2011–present) |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Key people | Julian Gaertner (Co-Founder and CEO) Dan Ropski (Co-Founder and COO) |
| Industry | Internet |
| Website | www |
| Registration | Required |
| Current status | Active |
Live It China is an online social networking service headquartered in Hong Kong. It is a language learning platform aimed at people who want to learn the Chinese language. Live It China was incorporated in 2011 by founders Dan Ropski and Julian Gaertner.
After registering on the site, users can create a personal profile and add language partners as friends. Instead of focusing on the cognitive aspect of learning, tools like Chineasy, for example, use clever and captivating illustrations to help people learn Chinese characters, or Duolingo and Memrise which facilitate language learning through gamification. Live It China makes it easy to find and combine various resources such as Language Partners, Tutors, and Schools which people can interact with in real life. Having said that, the site also boasts built-in translator tools, flash cards, and live chat messaging. It has been described as a language learning social network, social media platform, one-stop shop, and marketplace. [1] [2]
Foundation
The company was officially incorporated in December 2011 by Cantonese-speaking German, Julian Gaertner, and Mandarin-speaking American, Dan Ropski. It recently launched in Hong Kong on 25 April 2014.[3] The two met while studying in Mainland China and came up with the idea for Live It China while struggling to find a suitable solution to finding the best Chinese Tutor or Teacher.[4]
Inspiration for their business model of combining Language Partners, Tutors, and Schools came from personal experience and the Confucius saying: “三人行，必有我师焉” (where there are three people, one of them can be my teacher).[5]
Website
An earlier proof of concept version of the site existed back in 2011 with a very different look and feel. Live It China went through a rebranding and redevelopment exercise in 2013 after receiving HK$100,00 funding through the CCMF program at Cyberport and another round of funding from private investors. It is focusing on ‘leveraging smart technologies’ and filters to help people find what they need.
User Profiles
User profiles have changed since the launch of the new website and continuously improve. Language partner profiles include a profile picture, location, languages spoken, languages the user wants to learn, an about section, and another section for favorite books etc. [6] Along with language partner profiles, there are also language school and tutor profiles. Language school profiles allow schools to set hourly prices and advertise languages taught etc. Tutor profiles allow tutors to set prices for tutoring per hour as well as having similar functionality to language partner profiles.
Features
Users can take advantage of built-in features to help them learn their chosen language. These include instant messaging, flash cards, and a translator. This has advantages over using chat messengers and online translators separately as it saves time.
Offices
Their headquarters are in Hong Kong for strategic reasons of being able to capture the HK expat market as well as expand naturally into other major cities in China like Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Live It China also has a development base in the Philippines.
See also
References
- ↑ [ http://www.startbase.hk/companies/live-it-china-limited StartBase.HK profile of LIC] StartBase .
- ↑ Online platform to empower language learners InvestHK. Retrieved 04 July 2014.
- ↑ Live it China launch Timeout. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ↑ An online platform to empower language learners Startme Up.
- ↑ While most startups aim at English learning arena, Live it China takes a different path TechNode. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ↑ Language partners page Liveitchina.com . Retrieved 04 July 2014.
External links
This article "Live it China" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
