Learning A New Language? TryMango!

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With the plethora of learning resources available today, language learners have never had better times. Here's shiny new Mango Languages. Unlike Coffee Break Spanish, Mango is a totally free resource and the presentation is in the form of slides. If your iPod is the only gadget you wish to use for your language learning, that's your choice, but Mango is a great resource if you are interested in learning languages.

For one, you can choose from a total of 11 different language courses - each with over 100 lessons. On an average, each lesson contains around 80 slides and focuses on one part of the conversation. Registration is also simple and straightforward. What I liked best is the color coding of the words. This may not work as well with some languages, but it's a neat feature. You can click on a word to hear it. Alternatively, you can click on the icon before the sentence to hear the full sentence. You can even invite friends and challenge them to an (offline) competition later.

As of now, the service is not monetized. While I would prefer to see AdSense at work here, really any method is okay as long as the modules are available for free. If they start charging for content, it may hit the subscription base. I wouldn't mind paying for proficiency certification tests though.

If you are in for community-based language learning, you can also try xLingo or Tutorom. Personally, I'd rather learn the basics from a structured program and maybe later shift to community based learning to polish the diction and accents. Which type of language learning resource do you prefer?

PS: Please take a minute to bookmark this post if you liked it. Do check out my 'Recent musings', you might find them interesting.