Learning French with Mango Languages

It has always been a dream of mine to travel and see France in all of its’ splendor. During a raclette party, I told my friend, the host, that I have been wanting to move to France and start a new life there. She nodded with a smile and couldn’t agree more. Then she told me if I was serious about it, I would start learning French.

As I didn’t have the money to take real French classes at a community college, I opted to teach myself French from borrowed library books. I went to the library only to find that I have no will to study from books any more. I am in no hurry to feel like I’m in college again.

So I decided to see if there are other ways to learn French. Luckily, my local library offers an interactive online program that offers over 50 languages to learn from. The program is called Mango Languages, and you can use it for free as long as you have a library card from a participating library. You can find out if your library offers the program by using the Mango Languages Library Locator at the bottom of this webpage: http://www.mangolanguages.com/libraries/

I’ve been using the program for about a month now, off and on. It’s very easy to use, and it’s a lot of fun too. You get to pick your level and then slides that look like index cards will appear with words on it. Turn your speakers on, and you can listen to the words being pronounced correctly and follow along. Every time a new word or phrase is introduced, you are asked to repeat it. As more and more words are introduced, the cards or slides (whatever you want to call it) will begin testing your memory of all the words and phrases you’ve learned in a shuffled order.

You can set your own pace. Go faster if you are quick learner, or replay the cards to take more time to learn everything correctly. When you are done with one level, you can move on to the next instantly. Or you can stop, and Mango Languages will remember which card you left off at. You can also track your progress and see how many hours you’ve spent on each lesson. At the end of one set of lessons, there is a review to make sure you’ve retained everything.

I learned Basic French with ease, and even my sisters are surprised by how much and how quickly I’ve learned a new language. If you are trying to learn how to write the language, that may prove more difficult though. Afterall, the program does not teach spelling and grammar rules. Cultural notes are intermittenly embedded in the lessons instead.

I highly recommend trying Mango Languages out if you are near a library that offers it. Like I said before, it’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s free!

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