Ripe Learning: Library Adds Ten Languages to Mango System

The Fort Lee Library’s subscription to the remarkable language learning program “Mango Languages” was recently updated with ten new languages for Fort Lee Library cardholders eager to pick up some conversational phrases in a variety of tongues. Mango Languages is available to individuals as well as libraries across the country.

The ten new languages are: Cantonese Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Haitian Creole, Irish, Levantine Arabic, Norwegian, Urdu, and ESL for Mandarin Chinese speakers.

It’s designed to be useful to a variety of users. Students can use it to compliment their lessons in class, English speaking adults can use it to brush up on some need-to-know phrases (and cultural facts) before visiting a new country, and non-English speaking adults can make use of the ESL lessons to help with their English. It is especially brilliant for the large community of Koreans in Fort Lee whose second language is English.

Bill Guiton, head of the Reference desk at Fort Lee Library, thinks the program is a great asset to the library.

"It is a pretty neat product. I'm amazed at how many languages there are total,” Guiton said. "Mango gets a lot of favorable feedback from libraries that have subscribed to it."

The way it works is simple. Fort Lee residents who have a Fort Lee Library card sign onto the Mango Languages website via the link on the Fort Lee Library’s main page. From there, they simply enter their card number, email, and password and can pick up where they left off. There is absolutely no charge.

The system requirements for running Mango Languages are:

A PC running Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7, or higher, or a Mac running OS X 10.4.11 or higher. A microphone is needed to utilize the Voice Comparison tool.

• Minimum 1 GHz processor with 1GB RAM
• Broadband Internet Connection
• 1024 x 768 display resolution

According to the site, the program is intended to teach people conversational phrases, mostly for the use of making polite, useful, and light conversation in another country. It’s practical to a fault, and shouldn’t be considered a way to fluently learn the language from top to bottom.

“Mango Complete is a more in-depth program that still focuses on practical conversations, but is designed to also increase vocabulary and grammar skills. Neither product is intended to deliver total fluency, but rather conversational proficiency.” --- MangoLanguages.com

The website allows users to go at tL own pace, and allows for constant repetition of necessary. It includes lessons on the culture of the area of where the language comes from as well as pronunciation coaching.

Guiton said the feedback for Mango Languages is favorable.

“When we first subscribed to this, people would call and were really excited,” he said. According to Guiton, a customer service rep from Mango Languages reported that in 2010 Mango was used 842 times by Fort Lee users for 15 minutes or more each time.

Users with a microphone can make use of the “voice comparison” tool of the program. The idea is to compare one’s pronunciation to the monotone voice of the website’s reader. Unfortunately the program doesn’t correct pronunciation; it just allows the user to listen to theirs versus the correct  version over and over again.

Unlike Rosetta Stone, the leading language-learning program, there are no images. The methodology of the website uses color-coded words and phrases. The lettering is simple and easy to read, and the flash makes the screen-slides interesting, but there are unfortunately no pictures to “put” to words.

The free use of Mango Languages via the Fort Lee Library site is limited to residents of Fort Lee who also have a library card. There are a number of other libraries in the area that also subscribe to the program. By town:

• Bergenfield
• Tenafly
• Englewood
• Teaneck
• Leonia

Anyone with further questions about the Mango Languages program can contact Bill Guiton at 201-592-3615, Ext. 4004.