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Has anyone used Mango Languages? | ||
Tags: Language Program | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 4012 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 1 of 16 06 February 2014 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've recently discovered the Mango Languages program. I did both the German and Greek
(wanted to try it in a random language I know nothing about) free Lesson One demos in my Browser. It's hardly enough to figure out if it's worth the price $176 for all three journeys. I was wondering if anyone else has used it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4693 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 2 of 16 06 February 2014 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mango has a big marketing push to get into public libraries in the US, so definitely
don't buy anything until you're sure you can't get it for free from the local library. That said, no, I haven't used it, but I've investigated it and I'm extremely skeptical. Their marketing materials repeat ad nauseam that the library patrons love it, it's fun, it's the most popularly requested item, etc., and not a single word about the actual program itself. I've spoken to one of the librarians who originally let me know about these products, and she confirmed that she has seen no anecdotal evidence from anywhere of someone actually learning any meaningful amount from a mango program. It also seems that the most popular programs are used for one of two purposes, almost exclusively: 1) immigrants learning English. No idea how effective this is, but when you live in the US, it's impossible to say "this program taught me English" without noting the million other sources of English. 2) Parents wanting to give their children language enrichment (which I translate as: useless school languages classes, but without the school). I repeat that I have not actually used the products, so I cannot speak from experience. And since these are a free resource, I would love to hear that my impressions are way off. But I sincerely doubt that they'd be worth bothering with, and I definitely wouldn't pay for them. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 4012 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 3 of 16 06 February 2014 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Reading over the summary of what you learn with the package of all three levels and participating in the demos it seems like a very beautiful phrase book. However you do get some grammar explanation and a chance to record yourself saying these phrases. Also the words are color coded so you can identify their English equivalents (and I suppose so you can learn word order through osmosis). I feel it's more geared towards travelers but it seems overpriced just for you to be able to get around in a foreign land. Perhaps someone on here has done all three journeys. I have to say, I've never seen any ads on the Internet or TV for this program. I just found it by Googling language learning software. If they're mostly in the libraries then that's prolly why I'm just not hearing of it. I haven't been in a library in years. Edited by Tollpatchig on 06 February 2014 at 5:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6914 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 16 06 February 2014 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I had a look at it when it was fairly new (it must have been at least five years ago, say, in 2008). I can't say why I didn't keep using it, but for what it's worth, I still remember the phrase "I'm learning Chinese at a website called Mango Languages." in Chinese (我在一个叫芒果语言的网站学汉语。). It seems as if it's available through some libraries in Sweden.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4693 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 5 of 16 06 February 2014 at 5:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is what I was
remembering. You can watch a series of testimonials here. At the main mango languages page, it looks like they've built the site up a good bit in the 6-9 months or so since I last visited, so I expect they're growing their business pretty well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 4012 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 6 of 16 06 February 2014 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't realize the course was that old. Hmmm...still I think that I'm going to
purchase a language program I want it to be pretty intensive and one where I can also dabble in other languages since I know for a fact that I want to learn a third. I may look more at Assimil. It claims it can get you to B1 or B2 I think and I'm at like a A2.5. I've done the "advanced" German demo for Babbel and that was way too easy. I've never done a language learning software so I really want to try one out. It's hard to find one that I feel comfortable spending money on and that will work with Linux. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5014 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 16 06 February 2014 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Tollpatchig, I'm afraid you won't find a single exemple of language learning software which would be a full course and leading to B1 or B2. In ten years from now, perhaps. But not now. Most companies trying this are only trying to make a shiny and easily advertisable toy and they don't care their custommers will give up with the usual "I don't have brain for languages" attitude.
But what you can find is a variety of tools whic make a great job at one or two things! Anki is probably the most popular srs around and I am quite sure there is a linux version as well. There are online in browser tools such as the courses at the Deutsche Welle website. I don't think any can be a full course but they make an excellent supplement to anything. There are either podcasts but they made a few interactive digital courses which aren't bad at all. There is the Germanpod101 which is basically a lot of good quality audio with text. There is Duolingo and other tools. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 8 of 16 07 February 2014 at 2:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Mango is a decent course for absolute beginners. It is very basic. I did a review here.
5 persons have voted this message useful |
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