ITI Bloggers July 12th, 2009

Michael Goulas gives attendees a crash course in conversational Greek.

The crowd at the Mango Languages booth on the ALA exhibit floor wasn’t just hanging around for the tasty mango smoothies or the T-shirts either. The group was keen on what Michael Goulas, founder and chief operating officer (or chief operating “mango,” according to his business card), was saying. He was giving attendees a quick overview of some conversational Greek, including the much-needed pronunciation. And in these days of urban melting pots, English as a second language, and community-reaching library services, educational language courses are making their way onto countless library websites all over.

With Mango’s online language system, users can learn actual conversational skills in any one of more than 12 languages; there’s no host-training involved, no time-consuming downloads, and no special installation. “All public libraries have to do is put our icon on their homepage, and Mango takes care of the rest,” says Goulas. “Once the service is set up, all the patron needs is to have access to the internet and a library card number,” he says. “The yearly subscription rate for a library depends on the number of users, so it’s a real plus for budget conscious libraries.”

Unlike other web-based language courses, Mango, which launched in August 2007, gives the users real-life situations and actual conversations to work with. “We’re also currently developing an iPhone app too,” according to Goulas. Mango version 1.0 has about 100 lessons per course; Mango version 2.0, which is now being developed, will have even more to offer. And the online courses keep track of exactly where the user left off during the last lesson at the precise sign-off point, so the user just picks up where he or she left off.

“Right now, we’re in more than 300 libraries across the country,” says Goulas. As a testament to its value, The New York Public Library has already selected Mango Languages as a Best of Reference Library Resource.

Barbara Brynko
Editor-in-Chief
Information Today

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