C'est Fini

I had promised you here that I would give you another update on Mango. By last Wednesday, I had used the program 530 minutes to study French and another 223 minutes devoted to Spanish. (No, I did not create my own spreadsheet for this; it is a program feature.) My objective after discovering Mango was to work through the 100 available French lessons and as many of the Spanish lessons as I had time (43). Typically, I would review three or four lessons each day, Monday through Thursday. Initially, I devoted three days to French and two to Spanish, but eventually Spanish was sacrificed in order to complete the French series.

Overall, the program is easy to use and offers a free way to work through conversational phrases using sound and sight in order to encourage learning. My vocabulary did grow, and I was able to practice pronunciation until my tongue was content. I do think I gained additional experience with the languages, however an upcoming field test will give me a better ability to gauge the outcome of these efforts.

On the flip side:

Minor user issue: Learning two languages at the same time is possible, however the lessons typically run parallel (at least in French and Spanish) so there could be some confusion with word choice.

Getting bigger: There are a few instances where the translation follows the wrong word resulting in an error in translation. This might be evident only if you had had previous training in the language. While I would like to cite a specific example, I did not have the foresight to note these slides which brings me to...

I would like to see these issues addressed: The "Bookmark Slide" feature does not work. Additionally, the lessons just end. After completing the 100th slide deck for French, the narrator gives you the impression that there would be another lesson using the familiar "If you feel comfortable with this lesson, move on to the next one." Finally, the order of the lessons seems a bit off for my travel needs. We reviewed "Thanks my love. Come sit by me" (Lesson 94) before lessons on interactions at the post office and customs (Lessons 97-100). Also, in the early lessons, background slides were included for verb conjugation and word usage explanation. At or near the middle of the course, this information is abandoned.

The final issues give me the impression that this program was conceived and built just far enough in order to try to get capital funding, however I will admit that this conclusion might be derived from my personal (software) experience. The quantity and the potential are there, but a few rough edges still remain.