New languages a click away with Mango

FCPL launches a new software for learning 22 foreign languages

by Abby Wood

	Denise Leeson, the youth services specialist at the Cumming branch of the Forsyth County Public Library, demonstrates how to learn Spanish with new language software called Mango.

February 11, 2011

CUMMING – Going on a trip to Italy, but no parla Italiano? Dining at restaurants, taking taxicabs around the city and checking into a hotel when you don’t speak the language can be frustrating.

Denise Leeson, the youth services specialist at the Cumming branch of the Forsyth County Public Library, said the recently launched Mango program can teach the basic phrases to prepare a library patron before a trip.

“Travelers can use it on a short-term basis, and what’s great is you can choose your lessons,” said Leeson.

Leeson said Mango can be accessed for free at any of the three public libraries, or at home at the convenience of a user’s computer.

“Most of the people use it at home, because it is easy to use,” said Leeson. “The website had 877 hits in the month of January alone.”

There are two ways to do it. A user can choose from either the basic course, or the comprehensive course, said Leeson.

For users who want to learn from the comprehensive course, the language is compiled in a number of lessons.

The Forsyth County Schools system has embraced the new software.

“This is an excellent learning resource for students,” said Genise Tworek, workforce development director for county schools. “Students can learn languages that are not currently offered in our school system.”

A local woman who recently adopted a teenage girl from China was among the first to try Mango when it was first offered online, Leeson said.

The adoptive mother will be learning Chinese in order to communicate with her daughter, while the daughter will be learning English to communicate with her mom.

“This is a way for parents to add to the children’s languages they learn at school. We wanted to find a way to accentuate that in order to help them out,” said Leeson.

There are basic or comprehensive courses set up in languages such as Spanish, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian and more.

A headset is all a user needs. Then click the “start learning” tab to speak the words of the chosen language, said Leeson as she demonstrated the program to the Forsyth Herald.

“I especially like it because it shows your voice recognition bar and the comparison from your voice to the narrator’s voice you heard,” said Leeson.

A user can easily depict the difference between how they said a word versus how the narrator said the word.

It costs $6,400 for the library to be able to offer Mango to the community, said Jon McDaniel, the county’s public library director.

The Friends and Advocate, an organization that supports county library programs, donated $2,000 to the purchase.

With the donation, the library was able to buy the extended package, which offers 22 foreign languages and 15 “English as a Second Language” courses.

“Not only does it help the library patrons, but also workers within the international companies that want to improve their English,” McDaniel said.

The Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce will be able to use this program as a marketing tool to help their workers from international companies gain a clearer understanding of English, McDaniel said.

“It was worth it. We hit the jackpot on this.” McDaniel said. “We were surprised at how many people responded so quickly.”