http://smiley.vox.com/library/posts/tags/studying/page/1/ Sad Songs on a Broken Ukelele en Vox Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:49:15 +0900 Copyright 2007 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss studying http://smiley.vox.com/library/post/mango-language-learning.html?_c=feed-rss-full nobody@vox.com(Smiley) http://smiley.vox.com/library/post/mango-language-learning.html?_c=feed-rss-full http://smiley.vox.com/library/post/mango-language-learning.html?_c=feed-rss-full Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:49:15 +0900 <div at:enclosure="asset" at:xid="6a00c2251e70a18e1d00e398ab21580003" at:format="large" at:align="left" class="enclosure enclosure-left enclosure-large photo-enclosure" style="text-align: center; float: left;"> <div class="enclosure-inner" style="padding: 9px; border: 1px solid; width: px; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" > <div class="enclosure-list"> <div class="enclosure-item photo-asset last"> <div class="enclosure-image"> <a href="http://smiley.vox.com/library/photo/6a00c2251e70a18e1d00e398ab21580003.html"><img src="http://a0.vox.com/6a00c2251e70a18e1d00e398ab21580003-320pi" alt="Mango Screengrab" title="Mango Screengrab" /></a> </div> <div class="enclosure-meta"> <div class="enclosure-asset-name"><a href="http://smiley.vox.com/library/photo/6a00c2251e70a18e1d00e398ab21580003.html" title="Mango Screengrab">Mango Screengrab</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div><!-- end enclosure --> <div><a href="http://www.trymango.com">Mango</a> is a new web 2.0 service designed to help people study languages.&#160; The user interface is clean and easy-to-use and signup is free for the moment.<br /><br />There are several languages, including my favorites, Spanish and Japanese, available to study.&#160; The website breaks lessons down into slides (sometimes over 100 per lesson) that have a given phrase or conversation in the studied language with an English translation as well as an attached audio file that has the spoken pronunciation.<br /><br />From the Japanese lessons I&#39;ve tried, it sounds as though they have tried very hard to have native speakers voice the audio recordings, giving correct pronunciation and intonation.<br /><br />The lessons are well designed, however, even at the basic level, the system expects one to have a working knowledge of the written forms of the studied language.&#160; At least, in my case, even the beginning slides were presented with the Japanese written in kana, which while no problem for me, could potentially be discouraging to absolute beginners.<br /><br />In general though, Mango looks like it could be a valuable new service for anyone wanting to study a new language or brush up on a familiar one.&#160; Recommended.<br /></div> <p style="clear:both;"> <a href="http://smiley.vox.com/library/post/mango-language-learning.html?_c=feed-rss-full#comments">Read and post comments</a> | <a href="http://www.vox.com/share/6a00c2251e70a18e1d00e398ab02a70001?_c=feed-rss-full">Send to a friend</a> </p> mango languages education web 2.0 studying web service language learning