Explore Mango Languages to Learn Alabama's Many Languages

by Kelly Laney, Springville Road Regional Branch Library

In honor of Alabama’s Bicentennial celebration, why not consider learning a new language that was spoken here 200 years ago up through today? Using the Mango app, available through the Birmingham Public Library website, you can learn Cherokee, Spanish, French, or one of the 68 other languages currently available.

You can reinforce your language learning with audio and print materials from your local library. If you’ve done a DNA analysis and discovered that your lineage harks back to Norway or Nigeria, Scotland or Spain, Finland or France, China or Chili, you can log in and learn how to speak the languages of your ancestors. With a total of 71 languages to choose from, most countries of the world are included.

Mango makes it so easy, with cultural and grammar notes, as well as conversations by native speakers so you can hear the cadence and flow of the language. By clicking on each syllable, you can get a phonetic pronunciation, along with slowed speech, so you can practice until you get it right. You can also record your own pronunciations and compare them to the visual voice-line of the native speakers. This helps you get it exactly right because you can see exactly where your voice changes from the native speaker.

So sign up with Mango Languages and start learning to speak a foreign language today. You can also download the app to your mobile devices, where it will keep track of your progress and take you right to where you left off with your last session.

You could be speaking like Sequoya or Desoto by the end of the summer! What could be more fun?