Mango Languages: Learn To Speak Like a Foreigner For Free

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon (not using StumbleUpon, interestingly enough) a Web-based project, dubbed Mango, that, the internationalist that I am, won me over almost immediately. No kidding. It really impressed me that much.

Mango Languages is its full name, and it’s site/service that I speak exaltedly of for good reason. It’s an online “enterprise-level” series of language learning tutorials (think Rosetta Stone, but a bit simpler and which resides out in “the cloud”), that just so happens to be, you know, absolutely…completely…positively…free. Free, folks. Free.

Now, I’m sure a number of you might be a little less than interested in learning another language this moment, what with your super-uber-ultra-busy life and all, but for the segment of the Profy readership that thinks, “Awesome. Cool project. Well done. I think I’ll learn some Mandarin today,” it’s a pretty decent piece of kit. It’s something you’ll definitely like to check out if you’re, say…intent on traveling the seven seas some time or other. Or perhaps curious to know what they heck your English-as-a-second-language family members are yammering on about every holiday and miscellaneous get-together in that foreign tongue you’ve sort of, kind of, never quite could understand. At all.

The website that Mango’s language tutorials are built upon is certainly a polished one. It’s appropriately easy to use, colorful (in an inviting way, not ridiculously so ), and basic, in utility and content, without being, well, ridiculously so, either.

What you’ll more or less get out of one of its courses is just about enough instruction to get you around a foreign land (or a general foreign-language discussion in your own land). You know, go shopping, buy transit tickets, tell a taxi driver to slow the hell down. The essentials. You’ll be able to pick up, say Der Spiegel at a newsstand in Hamburg and rough through it. Roughly. Maybe. Which is…fine, actually. Heck of a lot better than getting lost, I think.

And what’ll it cost you? Nothing, financially speaking. You’ll certainly need to spend a decent amount of time with the lesson(s) you wish to go through, but in the end, you’ll be ready to hit Paris, run into a brooding French philosopher, and confidently explain why you can’t effective argue his or her points because your French isn’t good enough – all in French!

Alright, enough said. Interested in expanding your lingual library? Try Mango. I’m sure you’ll find it to your liking. Apprecier!