The strategy of the Department for Education and Skills'(DfES) 2002 strategy document, "Languages for All: Languages for Life" called for improving the quality of language teaching and learning; enhancing qualifications and credit recognition arrangements; and increasing demand for language learning. This principle was to extends to adult learning, including community-based and family-learning programmes, and to aspire to provide opportunities for lifelong language learning to develop skills "to be used in business and for pleasure, to open up avenues of communication and exploration, and to promote, encourage and instill a broader cultural understanding". The most recent Annual Report Annual Report of the Adult Learning Inspectorate's Chief Inspector indicates that there is still a long way to go before the aims of the DfES become a reality. In this article, the author reports the barriers faced by adult learners wishing to learn languages and contends that it is time for all adults wishing to learn languages to have access to high-quality teaching and learning at an affordable price.