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Mango Languages Review: A Look At Its Cost, Courses, and Competitor

Chad Emery Published on December 13, 2021
Mango Languages review
7 TOTAL SCORE

High-quality courses with useful cultural notes

The Mango Languages app is easy to use and has clear conversational and grammar goals for each unit. It stands out from other language apps because of its insightful culture and grammar notes throughout its courses. Some of its courses lack depth though and it also doesn’t use images or video. It’s still worth a try, but there are definitely better apps out there.

LANGOLY'S REVIEW 7

User Experience 7
Quality of Content 8
Features Available 6
Value for Money 7

PROS

  • Wide variety of languages available
  • Cultural and grammar notes enhance course material
  • Free to use through libraries and other institutions

CONS

  • Not very useful for intermediate or advanced learners
  • Less popular languages have shorter courses
  • Content can become repetitive
Disclaimer: Langoly selects and reviews products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions that help support our testing at no extra cost to you. Please read our full disclosure for more information.

Languages Available on App:

Arabic (Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, Modern Standard), Cherokee, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Chaldean Aramaic, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Dzongkha, English, Shakespearean English, Filipino (Tagalog), Finnish, French (Canadian, European), Greek (Ancient, Koine, Modern), Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew (Biblical, Modern), Indonesian, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Irish (Standard), Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Polish, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Malay, Malayalam, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Pirate, Portuguese (Brazilian), Potawatomi, Punjabi (Pakistani), Romanian, Thai, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Shanghainese, Swedish, Slovak, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Tuvan, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and Yiddish.

Mango Languages Overview

The Mango Languages app is a good choice for you if you’re looking for guidance while you study. Each language has a clear structure and goal for each section. The app walks you through each concept while it teaches you how to navigate everyday situations in your target language. Overall, it’s a fantastic choice for beginners, but might not be as useful for intermediate and advanced learners.

Here’s a quick video that shows how Mango Languages works:

One way Mango Languages stands out from other language apps is that linguists developed each course individually. This provides a lot of value because instead of learning generic translations, you learn about the cultural elements of your target language. This helps you speak more naturally and fluently in the long run.

Mango Languages was one of the first language apps I ever tried. My city library offered a free version that I could access. But this was years ago, so I was interested to see how the platform had changed, and (hopefully) improved.

Mango Languages Price

The Mango Languages app costs $11.99 per month for one language or $19.99 per month for access to all languages. If you choose a yearly subscription, you pay $9.99 per month for one language or $16.67 per month for all languages. This price is cheaper than other well-known apps like Pimsleur and FluentU, and the content is worth the price.

For learning a single language, Mango Languages has one of the least expensive subscriptions out there. Apps with similar pricing are Mondly and Memrise. Apps with a similar price point to the All Languages subscription include more comprehensive courses like Babbel and Rosetta Stone.

Mango Languages Free Trial

Mango Languages offers a free 14-day trial that lets you test out every aspect of the app before subscribing. The free trial gives you access to all languages and all features. Most other apps only offer 7-day free trials, so 14 days is plenty of time to decide if Mango Languages is a good choice for you.

Mango Languages Discount

When you subscribe to Mango Languages, you can get a discount on yearly subscriptions and get two months for free. This is the only discount available for the Mango Languages app.

The good news is that you may be able to access Mango Languages for free through your public library or educational institution. The company partners with institutions around the world to bring language learning to underserved communities. Check with your local institutions to see if they have an active subscription to Mango Languages that you can use.

Mango Languages Review: Features

There are a few different features available in the Mango Languages app. In general, it’s similar to other major language apps like Babbel and Rosetta Stone. It has some interesting aspects, so I took a deeper dive into the app to show you exactly what you’ll get.

Interactive Lessons

The Mango Languages lessons are very interactive. They have different activities and exercises to help you master what you’ve learned. You can toggle between colloquial and literal translations, get help with your pronunciation, and compare your voice to native speakers.

Mango Languages Pronunciation Helper

The app isn’t as interactive as others like LingoDeer or Mondly. If you enjoy learning with games and leaderboards, these may be better options.

Recaps, Reviews, & Reinforcements

Mango Languages teaches you through repetition. You practice the lesson material over and over again. It can be a bit tedious sometimes, but it really works. Other popular apps use this method too, like Drops and MosaLingua. Mango Languages uses spaced repetition to prevent you from wasting time repeating things you already know.

Mango Languages recap quiz screenshot

Mango Languages takes it one step further than most other apps, too. You can choose how you want to practice what you’ve learned. You can choose between speaking, listening, and reading. Most other apps don’t give you this choice.

Clear Conversation & Grammar Goals

Another aspect of Mango Languages that I like is that each unit has clear goals. You know exactly what you’ll learn before you start. I found this to be helpful because I could focus on achieving those goals in each section.

The courses in Mango Languages are pretty similar to most other apps. Having these goals really adds a purpose to studying. This is one of my favorite aspects of the app.

Mango Languages Course Goals

Literal & Dynamic Translations

Chances are that language learning apps will use words you don’t know at one point or another. With other apps, you might have to leave the app and use a translator to look up the new vocabulary. The Mango Languages app has in-app translations that make it easier and quicker to look up words.

Mango Languages Review - In-App Translator

Google Translate powers this feature, so the quality isn’t always the best. It does save you some time if you’re only looking for a couple words. Some other apps I like that use in-app translations include FluentU, LingQ, and Lingopie.

Mango Languages Review: Overall Learning Experience

In general, I’d recommend the Mango Languages app if you’re learning a widely-spoken language like Spanish or French. The Mango Languages app is easy to use and the content is high-quality. I enjoyed using the app, but most importantly, I learned a lot! I think the cultural and grammar notes provide value that most other apps miss out on. The courses are also straightforward and build on what you already know.

I thought the specialty units were fun. I live in Spain and had always wanted to learn about Flamenco, but didn’t really know where to start. Mango Languages has a full unit on Flamenco!

Mango Languages Review: Areas of Improvement

Even though its features and content are top-notch, there are still some ways that Mango Languages app can continue to improve.

Images and video components are scarce. Apps like Drops and Memrise use images and videos to help you learn. This is important because using visual content helps you think in your target language. Mango Languages doesn’t use many images or videos, which means that you’re essentially only learning to translate. This can be a useful way to become conversational, but for many learners, it may hold them back from becoming fluent.

Some language courses are really short. Mango Languages offers courses for an extensive amount of languages. That’s wonderful, but some of the courses are so short that it’s almost not worth it. The Korean course, for example, only has one unit that covers generic situations. So does the Arabic (Egyptian) course (here are some other apps to learn Arabic).

For this reason, Mango Languages is an excellent app if you want to learn a little bit of a lot of languages. But it’s not a good choice if you want to focus on a less common language.

Mango Languages Egyptian Arabic Screenshot

Languages Available on Mango Languages

Mango offers more than 70 languages. Depending on the language, different dialects may be available, like European French and Canadian French. The languages offered by Mango Languages are:

Arabic (Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, Modern Standard), Cherokee, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Chaldean Aramaic, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Dzongkha, English, Shakespearean English, Filipino (Tagalog), Finnish, French (Canadian, European), Greek (Ancient, Koine, Modern), Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew (Biblical, Modern), Indonesian, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Irish (Standard), Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Polish, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Malay, Malayalam, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Pirate, Portuguese (Brazilian), Potawatomi, Punjabi (Pakistani), Romanian, Thai, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Shanghainese, Swedish, Slovak, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Tuvan, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and Yiddish.

When you subscribe, you can choose if you want access to one language or all languages. The amount of content for each language varies. Let’s take a closer look at some popular languages to see how they compare.

Mango Languages Spanish Review

You can learn both Latin American Spanish and Castilian Spanish (from Spain) with Mango Languages. In the Latin American Spanish course, there are 5 units that are excellent for beginner to intermediate learners. There are also some specialty units, like Romance, Legal Spanish, and Text Talk.

Mango Languages Spanish Review Screenshot

The Castilian Spanish course has 4 units, but the content seems a little more limited than the Latin American Spanish course. There are only two Specialty Units: Flamenco Dancing and Soccer Celebration.

All in all, Mango Languages is an excellent app to start learning Spanish. You’ll learn to become conversational in the language and you’ll also learn a lot of important cultural tidbits. But you’ll need to use other Spanish apps once you reach an intermediate level.

Mango Languages Korean Review

The Mango Languages Korean course is very limited. There is only one unit with 10 lessons that cover topics like salutations and small talk, currency, and food. Even though it’s a short course, I think the cultural aspects included in Mango Korean make it worth it. You won’t learn to read or write in Korean, so you’ll need to use other Korean apps to continue learning. 

Mango Languages Korean Screenshot

Mango Languages Chinese Review

Mango Languages offers courses for both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. There are 5 units in Mandarin and only 1 in Cantonese. Neither course teaches you how to write Chinese characters, so you’ll need to find other apps to learn. The Mandarin course covers a lot of useful topics and can teach you to become conversational.

Overall, I think the Mango Languages Mandarin Chinese course is worth it, but the Cantonese course leaves a lot to be desired. I would recommend using other apps to learn Cantonese.

mango languages mandarin course

Mango Languages Alternatives & Competitors

There are a lot of language learning apps out there, so you can easily find alternatives to Mango Languages. The main alternatives are Babbel, Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Busuu, and Duolingo. All of these apps offer comprehensive language courses. However, they vary in price, languages offered, and features. Let’s take a closer look at each Mango Languages alternative to see what’s right for you.

Mango Languages vs Babbel

Babbel App homepage

Mango Languages and Babbel are both high-quality language-learning apps. The choice between the two comes down to what you want to learn. Mango Languages offers a large number of languages, while Babbel is limited to the more popular languages. Babbel’s courses teach you to become conversational more quickly. Both apps include grammar and cultural notes, which is a huge plus. They’re also similar price-wise. I would choose Babbel if it offers the language you want to learn. 

You can try Babbel for free by clicking the link below. To learn more, you can read this Babbel review or our complete Mango Languages vs Babbel comparison.

Mango Languages vs Pimsleur

Pimsleur app homepage

Mango Languages and Pimsleur are two major language-learning brands, but their courses are completely different. Pimsleur’s courses are all audio and they teach you to become conversational quickly. You start speaking in your very first lesson and the course helps you to speak confidently and comfortably. Mango Languages is much more passive than Pimsleur. But it has an edge over Pimsleur because you can learn to read with Mango Languages. Overall, I’d choose Pimsleur between the two.

You can try Pimsleur for free by clicking the link below or read more about it in this Pimsleur review.

Mango Languages vs Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone App Homepage

Rosetta Stone and Mango Languages are two big names in language learning. Both offer a wide variety of languages, but they have different approaches to learning. Mango Languages walks you through a more traditional course while Rosetta Stone immerses you in your target language. Between the two, I prefer Rosetta Stone because it teaches you to think in another language. Mango Languages focuses on teaching you to translate. 

You can try Rosetta Stone for free by clicking the link below or read this Rosetta Stone review to learn more.

Mango Languages vs Busuu

Busuu App Homepage

Mango Languages and Busuu are similar in their approaches to language learning. The difference between them lies in the number of languages they offer and their features. Mango Languages offers a lot more languages…by far. But Busuu lets you practice with native speakers, and it also offers certificates to show your language level. The prices are similar, but Busuu is a little cheaper. All in all, I’d choose Busuu if you want to learn one of the languages it offers. 

You can try Busuu for free by clicking the link below or check out this Busuu review to learn more.

Mango Languages vs Duolingo

Duolingo App Homepage

Mango Languages vs Duolingo is a common comparison because both apps offer full language courses for many different languages. Duolingo is more engaging because it uses games and activities to teach you. Overall, Mango Languages courses are of higher quality and thoroughly teach you how to speak the language. Duolingo is cheaper because it’s free, but the lessons are constantly interrupted by ads. In my opinion, Mango Languages is the better app to use. 

You can try Duolingo for free by clicking the link below or read more about it in this Duolingo review.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cost of Mango Languages?

Mango Languages costs $7.99 per month for one language or $17.99 per month to access all languages. Discounts are available if you choose a yearly subscription. You can also try Mango Languages free for 14 days.

Is Mango Languages worth it?

Mango Languages is worth it, especially if you’re learning a language that other apps don’t offer. For popular languages like Spanish and French, Mango Languages offers culture and grammar notes that add a lot of value to its main courses.

Can Mango Languages make you fluent?

No, Mango Languages cannot make you fluent. The courses help beginners learn the basics of their target language and build a solid foundation. It helps you learn basic conversations. But intermediate and advanced speakers won’t learn a lot with Mango Languages.

Is Mango Languages free?

Full access to the Mango Languages courses isn’t free. However, the app offers a free 14-day trial that lets you access all of its language courses and additional features. But you’ll have to enter your credit card information to access the free trial.

How long is the Mango Languages free trial?

The Mango Languages free trial is 14 days long and gives you access to all of the language courses and features. After the 14-day free trial, you can subscribe starting at $7.99 per month.

About this Mango Languages review

This is an independent Mango Languages review, and the company has not sponsored this article. To write this review, I purchased a one-month subscription to the app and used it for a few hours to thoroughly test its content and features. I also found additional information on the Mango Languages website to verify my findings.

Chad Emery

Chad is the founder and editor of Langoly. He was a TEFL-certified English teacher for many years and has been an active language learner for many more. His articles have been featured around the web by organizations like the Government of Canada's Translation Bureau and Simon & Schuster. In his free time, Chad is an avid traveler and loves running in new places. Connect with Chad on LinkedIn.

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