Break the Language Barriers at the Troy Public Library

(Troy, MI) – August 18, 2008 - Olá! Salve! Guten Tag! Bonjour!  Open the doors to far away places with a brand new program aimed to teach library users, both young and old, languages from around the world!  Mango Languages is a free online program that has been hailed as the “place to go to learn foreign language at your own pace and in a fun and engaging way” by Education World.  It provides audio tutorials to practice reading, listening and speaking, as well as audio clips and written text to take students through each course.

Mango offers instruction in the following languages: German, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Greek, French, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese, as well as English lessons for Polish, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

“Mango Languages is a valuable tool for individuals who want to learn a new language” said John Robertson, TPL technology librarian. “This program is perfect for soon-to-be-travelers, new residents of the United States, or simply those who want to immerse themselves in a new dialect.”

Each course is a self-paced sequence of 100 lessons that can be completed in the library, from home or at work. Mango uses audio recordings and Flash video to guide users through learning a language. Each lesson consists of a conversation with both audio pronunciations and text showing how the word is written in that language. Other features include condensed lessons, vocabulary review, phrasebook review and scroll-over phonetic pronunciation guide.

“It is the most user friendly online learning systems that we’ve come across,” said Robertson.”  It simply makes the process of learning a new language convenient for any lifestyle.”

To access Mango, click on the "Information On-Demand-All Day, Every Day" link in the middle of the TPL homepage (www.libcoop.net/troy). Click Language Learning from the subject list then click Mango Languages. A library card in needed in order to access Mango Languages. The Troy Public Library is located at 510 West Big Beaver Road.  For more information, call 248-524-3538 or visit www.troymi.gov/Library/.

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