Language Learning is Good for You!

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Did your New Year’s Resolutions involve a pledge to learn something new, improve your brain fitness, or save money?  Language learning with the Library’s resources can offer all of this!

Studying a language has many benefits, such as improving overall memory and decision-making skills!

Mango LanguagesOur online language resource Mango Languages makes it easy to start a new language (or to brush up on the one you studied in high school but can’t remember anything except “Hello!  What color is your cousin’s notebook?”)

Mango provides instruction in over 70 languages.*  Learn to converse about real-life topics in small steps, while learning the cultural context needed to use a language properly.  Pronunciation technology helps you achieve a proper accent.   Mango also offers instruction for English language learners, with programs in 21 languages.  Try one of their foreign-language movies with special interactive content to help you learn grammar and culture while being entertained.  (And don’t forget the Library’s own extensive collection of foreign film DVDs!)

Rosetta Stone language learning programAnother great online option is Rosetta Stone, which offers 30 languages. (Access is made possible by the New Jersey State Library).

Mobile apps are available for both programs, so you can learn where and when you want!

 

Enjoy your language-study journey!  And if you’re interested in some thoughtful -and sometimes humorous- real-life stories of adult language learners, check out these books:

 

“Do people have different personalities in different languages? Every exchange student and maker of New Year’s resolutions hopes that the answer is yes. More than any juice cleanse or lottery win or career switch, a foreign language adumbrates a vision of a parallel life…Could I, would I, become someone else if I spoke French?”

-Lauren Collins, from When in French.

*One of these is Pirate – so now you can be prepared for International Speak Like a Pirate Day!