Our contract with the TELL ME MORE (TMM) languages program ends on March 22nd. For a while we were planning on giving it a try for another year. After additional evaluation, however, we came to the conclusion that renewing TMM may not be our best choice. Usage was pretty low, and both patrons and library staff encountered numerous problems getting the program to work. Because of these issues, we have decided to try a new language program called Mango Languages. Mango's main strength is that is is very easy to use. Mango can be used with any relatively recent browser and on any operating system (Mac users could not use TMM). Users only need adobe flash version 9 or higher, which is very common application. Mango is not as comprehensive as TMM -- it does not have speech recognition or writing components, but we believe it's usability is more important. Mango focuses more on everyday conversation. Anyone who has listened to a Pimsleur language tape will recognize the similarity. With Mango we also gain three new languages, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. We do, however, lose Dutch (although only four people ever tried Dutch on TMM, and I think I was one of those four). There may also be additional languages added later this year. For ESL students, Mango has three programs for learning English for Spanish, Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese speakers. More ESL programs are also planned.
Mango will be featured on the InfoSoup home page with a link to our Mango start page at http://info.infosoup.org/mango/
We will leave the TMM link up until the 22nd, with a note about why we are switching to Mango and with a link to Mango.
To use Mango from outside a library one will need a valid library card # and PIN. One nice feature of Mango is that you can use it with our without signing up for an account (although you still need your card # & PIN). If you just want to take a quick look, or don't want to remember yet another password, there is a Skip Login option (once you are on the Mango Languages page, not on the InfoSoup Page) that allows you to use Mango anonymously. If you do sign up for a Mango account, it will keep track of your language lessons.
If you have any questions or if your patrons have any questions, please let me know. I think most users will find Mango a lot easier to use.
Thanks,
Evan