I’ve mentioned that my library has free language courses before. It’s one of the reason’s they’re amazing. None of them really match up with my schedule, though, and, quite honestly, I can’t commit to my current workload at school and another class. I know myself and know that I’d be more interested in Mandarin than Biology and therefore spend more time at it. But my biology grade will count towards my GPA, and my Mandarin won’t.
Enter Mango. It’s an on-line (and sometimes on your smart phone) language learning program that a lot of libraries pay into to give free access to their patrons. Some of the languages you can study are Spanish, Japanese, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Mandarin Chinese, German, and English as a Second Language. Scheduling problem? Solved. I’ll still probably spend too much of my limited time at it, but at least I have the option of working at my own pace without worrying about being prepared for the next class session.
If you have a library card in Allegheny County, you can have Mango access. Check it out. If you live anywhere else, you should ask your library if they participate by either talking with a librarian or doing a little searching on their website. If they don’t have Mango, they may just surprise you with Rosetta Stone or Rocket Languages.
Very cool! I still want to learn French!
I bet they have something like this in the LA area!
A library is a great resource. Now, online access makes it even better.
I was pretty happy with the multiple mediums for learning, too.
that is really neat! How did the blogging scholarship go?
Aw, thanks for checking up! I didn’t win. I had some pretty intense competition, but I appreciate everyone who voted!!!
That’s amazing! I will have to ask my library to look into this. They don’t offer it yet, but it’s quite a genius idea. I’d love to learn a useful language like Spanish.
I bet if they get enough requests they’ll seriously look into it!
Ah I would love this! My boyfriend’s family is Puerto Rican and of course I took French and ASL in high school. Knowing Spanish would be so helpful!
I hear you! I’ve known PSE since a small child, learned ASL in college, took French and Russian in high school, and a little bit of Turkish extracurricularly. Where did my European travels take me? Germany. Haha.
That’s so great that they offered ASL at your high school! There’s actually a huge push right now to get it recognized as a language by the government so it can be taught and counted as a foreign language credit in more schools and used as an instructional language for d/Deaf kids more frequently. (And perhaps English could actually be taught as a second language like it is to other language minorities.) Here’s the petition….they’ve met the “goal,” but I’m pretty sure you can still sign.
I need to brush up on my greek and spanish!
Xo Megan, http://www.TfDiaries.com
This would be such a great way to do it! That and finding language/national community centers in your city. I’m all about that for brushing up on conversational skills if I already have a base.
What an amazing asset for the community! My husband and I ALWAYS want to learn a new language (probably Spanish, for his job), but Rosetta Stone is just so expensive. Who can pass on free?
Absolutely! Check and see if yours provides a service like this!
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