Mango Languages offers courses in over 70 languages, including common and endangered ones like Navajo. I used the program for several weeks to learn Latin American Spanish and Finnish. In my experience, it’s excellent for reaching the conversational level in a language, but it lacks advanced content—so the highest you’ll reach is a B1 or B2 level, depending on the course.
Overview
Name: Mango Languages
Description: An award-winning program with a focus on organic language acquisition.
Languages offered: Over 70 languages including Spanish, Korean, Punjabi and many more, as well as specialties (romance, academic, business) and some unique options (Shakespearean English, Cherokee).
Offer price: Monthly and yearly subscription options starting at $11.99/month, plus free trial available
Mango Languages aims to help learners gain practical conversational skills through scientifically proven methodologies. While its methods do get repetitive, the ever-evolving program provides each user with a tailored route to learning a new language.
User friendliness - 10/10
10/10
Delivers on promises - 10/10
10/10
Authenticity - 9/10
9/10
Value for price - 9/10
9/10
Pros
Interactive lessons that cover conversational and useful language and engage all four main language skills
Beautiful and intuitive interface
Reinforces and reviews content often to ensure you don’t forget it
All audio features professionally recorded native speakers
Includes some unique features like literal translations, authentic mini-movies and more
Mango Languages is an award-winning language learning resource based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It was founded in 2007 by a team of four ambitious innovators who wanted to leverage technology to bring down linguistic and cultural barriers.
Their goal is to help you gain practical conversational skills through scientifically proven methodologies so you can rapidly transition from a non-speaker to someone who can hold meaningful interactions in a foreign language.
Because they believe in organic language acquisition, the courses don’t deal too heavily with grammar. Instead, the focus is on actual conversations, with grammar learned in the background.
This methodology came directly from Mango Language’s CEO Jason Teshuba and his experiences learning Hebrew and Russian. He observed that as he progressed through conversations in his target languages, his intuition and feel for the language increased, and he learned grammar naturally.
How Many Languages Are Offered?
Mango Languages offers courses in over 70 languages, including the different regional branches of Arabic (Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine and Modern Standard) and Spanish (Castilian and Latin American).
There are also specialty language courses that focus on particular fields of work, such as Business Spanish, Medical Spanish and Legal Spanish. If you want to learn specifically about culture—like the Irish St. Patrick’s Day or the German Oktoberfest—there are short courses about those, too.
Mango Languages is available online and as an app for iOS and Android devices, allowing you to sync your progress across all devices.
There are also options for group learning. For example, educators can use Mango Classroom, which helps organize class activities and assessments. Even global businesses and government agencies (like the military) have used Mango Languages software to help employees and personnel get a better grounding in the language and culture of their international assignments.
Mango Languages Features
Interactive Lessons
The standard Mango course consists of four or more “Units.” Each unit is broken up into “Chapters” and the chapters are further subdivided into “Lessons.” Major languages like English and Spanish have more content than others, compared to, say, Norwegian.
I tried using Mango to teach me two languages. I chose Latin American Spanish because I knew it would be one of the most developed courses on the Mango Languages platform as well as Finnish because of its status as a lesser-studied language.
Right off the bat, I noticed that each lesson hits on the four main language skills: listening, reading, writing (typing) and most importantly, speaking. The lessons are interactive and come in the form of a slide deck, with each lesson containing 20 or more slides to run through.
Lessons usually open with a dialogue containing target words and phrases. These are then presented in bits and pieces, with each subsequent slide adding more concepts and complexity to your understanding of the original dialogue.
Each screen involves some sort of activity or drill. It can be as easy as listening to how a new word is pronounced or a sorting task where you craft a sentence by rearranging words.
The slides build on previous ones. What I liked is that the program took me through individual words before I was thrown into phrases, sentences and conversations. In fact, the experience was often so seamless that I rarely even noticed that each word was giving me the building blocks to create a full thought as well as the tools to create spontaneous sentences on my own.
Every now and then, small cultural or grammar notes landed in my lap and helped me get a firm grounding on the concepts presented. Sometimes, a picture or two might appear to illustrate a point.
Going through each deck and working on the drills is said to increase your linguistic intuition and comprehension.
Recaps, Reviews and Reinforcements
Repetition is central to the entire Mango Languages learning system. Mango works with spaced repetition technology so it can tailor the lessons and review segments to your needs. I noticed that when I missed a word, the program identified it as a “weak spot.” The software’s algorithm then ensured that I got to work with that word a little bit more, so it came up later in the lesson.
In addition to the repetitions and drills in the lesson itself, there are reinforcement exercises in each chapter and unit. These make sure that the goals shown at the beginning of every lesson have been successfully integrated by the student.
In fact, everything in the lessons and Daily Reviews is “triple-layered.” This means that you’ll always have the word, phrase or sentence in lively fonts and colors, its English translation and the audio pronunciation.
The dashboard shows your progress through the course so you can immediately pick up where you left off. The fact that you can also synchronize across devices means you won’t have any problems doing so.
Also, when I logged into Mango Languages the second day of trying it out, I was surprised to discover that the adaptive algorithms in place ensured that I received daily review prompts. These were very relevant to my learning needs, and the system had me review Finnish content that I had encountered during my initial sessions.
Literal and Colloquial Translations
There are many words and phrases in languages that don’t have direct or meaningful translations into others.
Idiomatic expressions are fertile grounds for these. The Spanish phrase estar como una cabra literally means “to be like a goat.” This could mean anything, from smelling like one to exclusively eating greens. The phrase actually means “to be a little crazy.”
Instead of divining a phrase’s meaning from the heavens, Mango Languages gives you both the literal equivalent of the words and also their intended meaning.
Even with sentences that are not idiomatic, having a literal and dynamic translation can help you learn word order and get one-to-one correspondence between the words you’re learning in your target language and what they mean in English.
Google Translate Integration
Though far from perfect, Google Translate is the big daddy of the translation game.
Mango Languages integrates well with Google Translate. Thanks to this, you can fetch the translation for practically any word using what’s probably the most advanced translation platform available today. Simply click on the “Tools” menu for any language and get an instant translation for any word, sentence or longer text.
The Pros of Mango Languages
Beautiful and Intuitive Interface
One of Mango Language’s main strengths is its sleek interface. The screen features fonts, colors and designs that are easy on the eyes and light on the mind. And the team has recently (in 2019) updated the software for an even more intuitive and streamlined experience, and it has really paid off.
Your dashboard gives you a well-thought-out layout of everything you’d want to do with Mango. There you can access lesson progress and review prompts under the “Learn” menu, as well as translation and dictionary tools under the “Tools” menu.
The color-coding it employs in every lesson is a winner, too. There’s a correspondence between the font colors used for sample sentences and their English translations. This made it easy to understand word-by-word translations and practice correct word order in my target languages.
For example, if the verb in the Finnish sentence is in brown, its corresponding English verb will also be in brown. This made it easy for me to recognize—without explicit grammar rules—how the elements in the sentences translate from one language to another.
Working with Native Speakers
Mango Languages courses are developed by expert linguists and passionate native speakers who pronounce the words, phrases and sentences. They also animate the conversations and dialogues in the lessons.
The audio is the result of professionally produced and studio-recorded sessions that ensure crisp and clear inputs. This is rare in many popular online language learning programs, but in both the languages I tried out, the native audio was superb.
If at any time during the lesson you need to hear what a word or phrase sounds like, you merely click or tap the green speaker icon, which you always find dead-center on your screen.
You can practice your own pronunciation by tapping on the orange microphone icon found next to the speaker icon. You can actually compare your recorded wave patterns to those of Mango experts. (The closer in form your wave patterns are to a native speaker’s, the better!)
Lessons Are Conversational and Topical
The lessons always get you to do something, like engaging you to work actively with words and phrases, letting you manipulate their order in a sentence, prompting you to speak into the microphone or letting you in on a native speaker’s conversation.
Mango lets you learn organically by practicing listening, reading, writing and speaking in the target language. These are the same skills crucial for preparing you to have your own conversations.
Mango excels in teaching language that is topical and useful. Instead of memorizing out-of-context grammar rules or impractical vocabulary related to topics that you won’t ever use, Mango gets right to the point.
I learned how to talk about myself and my family within the first couple of lessons in both Latin American Spanish and Finnish, and later lessons had me asking for directions, ordering food, going shopping and navigating a foreign locale.
These topics are necessary for creating a solid base in any language.
Robust Content for Many Languages
For major languages, there’s plenty of content to study. You can easily spend 80-100 hours learning the target language.
For example, in Mango’s Latin American Spanish course, there are five main units with a total of 41 chapters, as well as six specialty courses—including Business, Legal and Medical Spanish—and three “Mango Movies.”
Better yet, Mango is continually adding lessons to their lineup so the units will only get better with time.
Even for non-major languages, there’s enough content to get a good basis in the language.
For example, Mango Languages is one of the only language learning programs to offer Kazakh, Haitian Creole and indigenous languages such as Cherokee and Potawatomi.
The Cons of Mango Languages
An honest review of Mango Languages can’t just highlight its successes. Here’s a straightforward look at what didn’t work for me.
Light Content for Minor Languages
This is probably not just an issue for Mango Languages, but for major language companies that offer a wide array of courses in general. It’s often the case that popular languages get a disproportionate investment in course development compared to the less popular ones.
For example, I’ve already mentioned that Mango Language’s Latin American Spanish course is quite extensive compared to a minority language like Cherokee, which has merely 11 lessons over one unit. We can safely say that Mango Languages simply can’t be the sole language learning resource for someone wanting to learn a lesser-known language.
Grammar Content Could Be Reinforced
Because of Mango’s belief in organic language acquisition, you’ll realize that there’s not a lot of grammar instruction in the program, save for some insightful grammar notes.
For example, I noticed that there are “Grammar Notes” included in the Mango lessons, but they are quite limited on the details. And once they are passed, there’s no way to access that information again unless you redo the entire lesson.
For those who want an explicit, point-by-point tutorial on rules of grammar, you might want to look somewhere else—or at least take your own notes when the skimpy Mango grammatical explanations do show up.
Over-repetition Can Prove Tedious
While repetition is central to Mango’s approach, the drills can get boring, especially for courses that are missing some of the more hands-on features, such as listening and reading exercises or Mango Movies.
For some learners, myself included, working with the same words and phrases over and over can get too monotonous. I start to crave more interesting material and methods.
So don’t forget to take a break from Mango Languages and employ a number of different study methods.
Lack of Content for Advanced Language Learners
Mango Languages is a good learning resource if you’re an absolute beginner in the language you’re interested in, but if you’re an advanced student needing more complex stimulation, it isn’t for you. Lessons usually cap off at the intermediate (B1/B2) level.
Even still, Mango Languages never brings you past the word and sentence recall method. So you never use the language spontaneously nor do you get to use it in longer spoken or written contexts.
Sure, finishing a Mango course makes you knowledgeable about the language—you’ll be able to navigate a foreign country adeptly—but just don’t expect the course to take you to complete fluency.
Mango Languages started with very few images to bolster their lessons. Having these elements embedded in the lessons would bolster the program’s effectiveness, especially for the more visually-oriented learners. Although the text is admittedly lively and colorful, some might not find the content to be engaging enough.
Here’s what I recommend: Learn a few new words or phrases on Mango Languages. Then, reinforce those words and images through visually appealing content. It’s a win-win.
How Much Does Mango Languages Cost?
Mango Languages offers three plan types available in a yearly or monthly subscription.
The single language plan gives you access to the course materials for only one language. It costs $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year.
The “All Languages” plan gives you unlimited access to all 70+ language courses and lets you add up to five profiles to your account, making it perfect for families. It costs $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year.
Lastly, the “Enterprise” plan is for organizations who need access for multiple people. It gives access to all the language courses and a few extra tools, like marketing and promotional tools, in-depth usage stats, classroom management tools and more. For pricing, you need to contact their Sales department.
Rocket Languages offers courses in 14 languages, including Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Japanese and others.
The lessons are podcast-style—you listen to an audio of a native speaker and a learner explaining the new words and grammar and having conversations with each other. Then, you complete five different types of exercises to commit the new vocabulary to your memory.
The exercises have lots of variety and target each skill—there’s a writing, listening and speaking exercise, along with a quiz and flashcards.
Culture is also heavily incorporated in the main lessons, and each course has a “Language & Culture” lessons section that explains the mechanics of the language and certain cultural aspects that influence it.
To learn more about Rocket Languages, you can read our full review here:
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With FluentU, you hear languages in real-world contexts—the way that native speakers actually use them. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of FluentU videos on offer:
FluentU really takes the grunt work out of learning languages, leaving you with nothing but engaging, effective and efficient learning. It’s already hand-picked the best videos for you and organized them by level and topic. All you have to do is choose any video that strikes your fancy to get started!
Each word in the interactive captions comes with a definition, audio, image, example sentences and more.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and easily review words and phrases from the video under Vocab.
You can use FluentU’s unique adaptive quizzes to learn the vocabulary and phrases from the video through fun questions and exercises. Just swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you're studying.
The program even keeps track of what you’re learning and tells you exactly when it’s time for review, giving you a 100% personalized experience.
Babbel teaches 13 languages with a conversation focus. Their courses consist of lessons designed by language experts and native speakers, interactive games and engaging podcasts.
The course content is designed to get you speaking conversationally as fast as possible, so you learn words and grammar that are highly used by native speakers and that you can apply to your real life right away.
They also offer live one-on-one classes with teachers using their “Babbel Live” feature. Group classes are also available with no more than six students per class. With a subscription, you can take unlimited classes.
You can check out our in-depth Babbel review here:
Read our Babbel review to see whether the popular language learning program delivers on its promises! See all the ins and outs of Babbel and its main features, what we…
Final Thoughts: Should You Use Mango Languages to Learn a Language?
I recommend using Mango Languages if you want an affordable, guided course with structured lessons for the beginner to intermediate level. It’s also excellent if you like to dabble in different languages or if you’re interested in an endangered one and are struggling to find resources.
But it won’t take you to the advanced level, so you’ll need to find a new course once you’ve outgrown it.
And because of the lack of authentic content, you’ll need to supplement it with a resource like FluentU to immerse yourself in the language.
But overall, Mango Languages delivers on its promises and is a great option for building solid foundations in your dream language.
