Mango Languages

Marines and Happy Mondays

Happy… Wednesday, everyone!

July 18th of this year in Japan is Umi no Hi (海の日), which translates roughly in English to “Marine Day” or “Ocean Day.” Being Japan’s newest holiday, only adopted in 1996, this holiday is still finding its sea legs (bad joke) among people in Japan. They generally spend the holiday, coincidentally, at the beach.

Although the holiday is fairly new on a national scale, it actually dates back pretty far. Marine Memorial Day, Umi no Kinen Bi (海の記念日) was originally designated in 1942 to commemorate the Meiji Emperor’s 1876 voyage in a steam ship around the country. It took until 1995 for the holiday to be declared national, and in 1996, it was first celebrated as part of the Happy Monday System (ハッピーマンデー制度) and renamed Marine Day.

What’s the Happy Monday System, you ask? Aside from finding its initial support with Garfield the Cat–that’s a lie–the system, which moved a number of national holidays to Mondays, was enacted by the Japanese government to give workers who normally work five day workweeks a three day weekend.

Do you know of any beach or water related holidays in other countries? Tell us about it!

World Refugee Day

Today, June 20th, is World Refugee Day. This day honors the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threats of persecution, conflict, and violence, as well as the people who have dedicated their lives to helping them.

According to the United Nations, the 2010 Global Trends report shows that 43.7 million people are now displaced worldwide – roughly equaling the entire populations of Colombia or South Korea, or of Scandinavia and Sri Lanka combined.

Within this total are 15.4 million refugees (10.55 million under UNHCR’s care and 4.82 million registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), 27.5 million people displaced within their own country by conflict, and nearly 850,000 asylum-seekers, nearly one fifth of them in South Africa alone.

Many of the world’s poorest countries are hosting huge refugee populations, both in absolute terms and in relation to the size of their economies. Pakistan, Iran, and Syria have the largest refugee populations at 1.9 million, 1.1 million, and 1 million respectively.

Today is a day when everyone should be made aware of these facts and learn what they can do to help. The UN Refugee Agency has the ‘Do 1 Thing’ campaign, where you can donate to help refugees around the world.

The World Refugee Day website has a great Take Action page. It provides ideas and suggestions of activities that everyone should do in order to take part in World Refugee Day. The website also has Survivor Stories that give a first hand look at what life is like as a refugee. The stories are both heart-breaking and inspiring.

What are YOU going to DO for World Refugee Day?

Singin’ in Singapore

If you’re into some far out art from the far east, make sure to look into the Singapore Arts Festival from May 13th to June 5th. This festival originated in 1977 as a highlight of local communities’ artwork and continues every year in May.

Currently, the festival is a mixture of both Western and Eastern art, both traditional and modern.  For the most part, traditional artists have been given the most exposure, but there is a definite uptick in the attention given to up and coming artists.

Partly because of this festival, Singapore has become a major cultural center in East Asia and has seen growing public interest in and demand for the arts. Other events and festivals have also aided to foster the lively cultural scene found in this community.

Although there is an online presence all year long beyond the actual performances, there will be 75 stage shows from numerous countries throughout the whole festival. Awesome!

Share some eastern music, art, or even a story with us!

Vesak

Vesak (Vesākha, Vaiśākha) is widely considered the most important day of the Buddhist calendar. It is a celebration of all three of the main events of Buddha’s life: his birth, enlightenment, and paranirvana (his passing away).

The day itself, informally called “Buddha’s Birthday,” is spent either celebrating with large festivals featuring vegetarian food and animals, or communing in small groups with a focus on meditation. Aside from this, there is a focus on bringing happiness to others who are less fortunate, especially the handicapped and sick. Buddhists will donate cash and the like to charities, as well as spend time decorating and illuminating temples in place of satisfying one’s own needs.

Vesākha is celebrated in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It goes by a few different names, but in each country the premise is the same.

Even if you aren’t Buddhist, we could probably all take a lesson from this holiday. Go out and do something nice for someone today! Tell us about it!

Greenery Day

Today is　Midori no Hi (みどりの日) in Japan, part of a week long string of holidays known as “Golden Week”, in which most of the country is given time off from work and take the opportunity to travel or spend time with family.

Midori no hi itself is, as you might expect, a celebration of all things green. Parks and gardens in Tokyo and other cities have events to honor nature and some places plant trees, but all around the country there is a general initiative to clean up parks, beaches, and other areas.

Greenery Day finds its roots in the celebration of the Emperor Showa’s birthday on April 29th during the Showa era in Japan (1925-1989). In 1989, the name of the holiday was changed from “Birthday of the Emperor” to “Greenery Day”, but was still observed on April 29th. In 2007, Greenery Day was moved to May 4th.

Celebrate Greenery Day wherever you are! Plant a tree, pick up some litter. Have you ever celebrated a holiday like this?

Travel Tuesday: My Trip to Oxford

When I was a student I thought that, like every decent future teacher of English, I should spend some time in the country where the language I was to teach was spoken. I chose Oxford University in England because I wanted to visit one of the oldest universities. I found a good school and I arranged an accommodation at a house that would allow me to practice my English on a 24-hour basis, seeing as I am Greek. Everything was planned; I would land in Heathrow, then I would take the train to Paddington, from Paddington to Oxford, and thence by taxi to my landlady’s house. My knowledge of the language was very good, or so I thought at the moment. We had done most of the works by Shakespeare, so my vocab was rich, right?

So there I was on the platform at Paddington, with Shakespeare’s books in my suitcase, very confident and happy that I was at a place where I could hear only English and my favorite rock songs around me all the time. Fearless, I saw a sign that the train to Oxford would depart in 5 min., I approached the guard thinking it was the perfect time to start practicing. I asked him if the train went directly to Oxford or if I had to change trains, and to my surprise, I didn’t understand a word of his response. Not even a little word that would give me some sort of clue. Oops! But I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I tried again. “Excuse me, could you repeat please?” In response I got the same rumble of words that still made no sense. Oh my.

I gave up the third time; I had to get on the train anyway. Not a very good start. I arrived at Oxford, exhausted, worried, and slightly disappointed. I went to the taxi stand and fortunately the taxi driver’s English was more comprehensible. Feeling relieved, I went to sit in the passenger’s seat only to realize that for some reason the wheel was on that side too. I gave a Hugh Grant, “Right!” and moved to the other side.

My landlady was an older lady who welcomed me with a “nice, hot cup o’ tea, dear.”  She told me that her husband had passed away but…”look here” she said, proudly holding a pic she had on the mantle. “Look who he is with!” Her husband was with another older lady with a lovely little hat – but who on earth was she? “Oh,” I said “He is with the…?” “Yes, right! With the Queen!” Phew! Well, at least I knew Queen Elizabeth, the one from Shakespeare’s time.

She showed me to my room, a lovely little space. She said that she would be hosting another student who had arrived before me and so he took the bigger room and the bigger bathroom. Besides, he was an Earl. Poor me, I would never get a big room. Conclusion: before you go to England, learn a few things about the royal family. Also, look into your family tree. If you are distantly related to royalty, you will get big rooms.

And before we said goodnight, she asked, “How would you like your breakfast, love?” How would I like my breakfast? It dawned on me that in England they have English breakfast which keeps you going till the evening. But what does it consist of? “I’ll have what Jan (the Earl) will have.” That proved to be a good idea since we had orange juice, eggs with sausages, milk with cereal, toasted bread with marmalade (not jam), and coffee. I was now ready for everything.

I had no more adventures, unfortunately. Once, I went with my friend to a pub for lunch and would still be sitting there to this day unless a guy with many tattoos told us that in pubs you need to order at the counter. You live and you learn.

I have only fond memories of this trip. I didn’t mind the blunders, at least in retrospect. My teacher taught us all the dialects, so after that I was prepared to talk to any train station guard. My landlady took me to the oldest pub in the area, something like the Jamaica Inn. I went to all the colleges, walked in the corridors where so many famous people walked too. I visited the libraries. I made friends with people from other countries. Also, I saw a Shakespearean play in a courtyard of one of the colleges. Of course it rained in the middle of the play, but blankets, umbrellas, and hot cider were provided (for free!) so we were able to continue watching it. I had a great experience in Oxford.

Will you be partaking in the English culture by watching the Royal Wedding this weekend?

Living in France: Ma Familleaixoise

Leaving my family and friends to study in France for 6 months was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I tried to make that sound as believable as possible – did it work? Studying abroad meant traveling as much as possible, living in a country that considers food a form of art, and basking in the Mediterranean sun on a daily basis. Since I knew I would be coming home at the end of my séjour, leaving the good ole’ US of A wasn’t the hard part.

However, stepping on that plane in Marseille headed for Detroit after a life changing semester was a completely different story. This was evident in my full-fledged panic attack that ensued as soon as the plane landed – don’t worry, the stares from fellow passengers stopped after a few minutes. Don’t get me wrong, I was overjoyed to see those whose faces, hugs, and laughs I had missed in the previous months (not to mention beyond thrilled at the prospect of sleeping on a real mattress instead of the glorified piece of foam provided by my dorm). More than that, however, I was devastated at the thought of leaving all of the incredible friends I made during my time abroad.

When I first arrived in Aix-en-Provence, I thought it would be a matter of days before I was hob-nobbing with French students over wine and cheese. It took only a few minutes before reality slapped me in the face and I realized that my French skills were nowhere near that level of sophistication. It was much more difficult to make friends than I had thought. I was stumbling over my words and unable to express myself in a foreign language. Answering their questions was difficult enough, let alone trying to show any sort of humor that really reflected my personality.

Within time, however, I stopped worrying so much about my pronunciation or incorrect grammar and focused on something much more basic and exponentially more important – communication. I quickly realized that if I tried to resist speaking until I mastered the French accent or figured out how to properly use the subjunctive verb tense (neither of which I still do correctly), I would never make any friends. I also learned that these imperfections in my speaking actually spurred conversations with others. Where are you from? What inspired you to take French? Is this your first time in Europe? The occasional “you speak excellent French!” never ceased to put a smile on my face, no matter how big of a lie it was. Additionally, I encouraged people to correct me when I made an error. While slightly uncomfortable for them at first, this is what helped me the most and put me the most at ease in speaking with my peers. While they corrected my French, I provided the same service with their English.

Because nearly 1/3 of Aix-en-Provence is populated by students, most of my friends there were, in fact, not even French, but rather students studying abroad from all over the world. My best friends were from Romania, Slovakia, Algeria, and Scotland, amongst many other places I never even dreamed of visiting. Though we all spoke different native languages, French was the common factor. If not for this passion for foreign language, I would have missed out on getting to know this group of people that changed my life forever.

When you are thousands of miles away from everyone and everything you know, your friends play a different role in your life. They become your family as well. Together we cooked dinner every night, traveled, hung out in the park, studied (who am I kidding?), hung out and, most importantly, learned from each other. These friends truly became ma familleaixoise. Because of them, my experience in France was truly a cultural exchange. Through our conversations in French, I learned about traditional marriage practices in Algeria as my friend Youcef’s sister planned her wedding and from my friend Tomas, I discovered that it is common practice in Slovakia to recognize your “name day” with celebrations similar to that of a birthday (mine is May 6, in case anyone wants to send a gift).

Living so far away has made it difficult to stay in as close of contact as I would like, but thanks to the advent of programs like Skype and Facebook, we are still able to keep tabs on each other’s lives, see each other’s faces and most importantly, speak to one another (en français, biensûr)! As a French major and avid lover of foreign languages, I always recognized the benefits of language learning, but it wasn’t until I lived in France that I truly understood the importance. I could have easily surrounded myself with the other American students and stayed within my English comfort zone, but I chose to put myself out there. Was it easy? No. Did I humiliate myself? Endlessly.  But do I regret it? Not for one second.

Tartan Day!

Tartan Day, a holiday celebrating Scottish heritage, is held every year on the 6th of April.  This is the same date on which the Declaration of Arbroath, the declaration of Scottish Independence, was signed in 1320.

What is Tartan, you ask? Tartan is the pattern we call plaid in North America. If you go to Scotland, though, plaid only refers to a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder, or a blanket.

Tartan Day originally began as a single celebration in 1982, but didn’t pick up steam until around the mid-80′s, mostly in Canada. There, an annual “Gathering of the Clans” takes place on April 6th or the Sunday nearest to it on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. This includes pipes, drums, and dancing hosted by Canada’s oldest civilian pipe band.

The United States, with an estimated 6 million people who claim Scottish descent, has been a little late in the game. It wasn’t until 2004 that the National Capital Tartan Day Committee successfully lobbied the House of Representatives to designate April 6th of each year as National Tartan Day. This Resolution was adopted on March 9, 2005.

Do you have any Scottish friends? Be sure to wish them a happy Tartan Day!

Celebrate Diversity Month

April marks the beginning of new experiences and new transitions, being the first full month of spring. April is also Celebrate Diversity Month. Diversity is understanding, appreciating, and ultimately managing difference and similarities at the same time. Its reach is all-inclusive and may represent categories such as class, race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, nationalities, political beliefs, and many other categories.

We, at Mango Languages, are fascinated and inspired by people’s diversity. Our company and products all came about from the interest in learning more and connecting people all over the world. Our staff is incredibly diverse, giving each of us an opportunity to learn someone new each day about different nationalities, religions, cultures, languages, etc. We take every opportunity we can to celebrate the eclectic bunch that we are, realizing that Mango Languages wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the different views and ideas from our diverse fans, staff, partners, and vendors.

We bring in ethnic foods for everyone to try, share international holiday and traditions with each other, and learn new words and phrases in different languages that inspire us to create language courses to share with the rest of you. To learn more about us and watch some fun videos, check our About Us page.

Everyone should take the time to learn, understand, and appreciate the amazing and diverse people that you are surrounded by every day. I came across a great site by Carole Copeland Thomas, the founder of Diversity Awareness Month, which is in October. She writes about the importance of diversity and the best ways to appreciate and learn about diversity. On her site she has 25 Ways to Promote Diversity, which I thought was a great list to use for your company or organization.

Here are a couple of ideas to promote diversity:

-Design a diversity calendar for your organization.

-Develop or enhance an intense diversity training program.

-Establish diversity days in your company’s cafeteria by serving different ethnic dishes.

-Give diverse books to your local school library.

-Read at least two or three newspapers each week to broaden your perspective.

We shouldn’t just celebrate diversity a couple months at a time, we should be appreciating the fascinating and unique people who make up this world every day of the year.

What does diversity mean to YOU? How are YOU going to promote diversity?

Travel Tuesday

Today, I decided to dedicate this blog post not to a particular destination but to the journey itself: traveling and the life changing experiences that come with it.

I consider myself a cultured individual, therefore I love to travel.  Or is it the other way around? Do I, like many, travel and therefore become a cultured individual? What came first, the chicken or the egg? The beauty of it is that they go hand in hand. To travel is to explore, to learn, and to discover.

Traveling has no limits. You could take a road trip to Seattle, backpack through Europe, or take a 20 hour flight to India–in all scenarios you embark on a path of self discovery as well as world discovery. There is nothing like traveling to provide knowledge, understanding, and a new outlook on the world that we live in. The people we meet, the cultures we learn about, the languages we speak, and the amazing history that is behind Rome, Moscow, Cairo, and Beijing is just a small part of what traveling can provide. We are all interconnected, and to experience this first hand you have to take a dive into a place that someone else calls home.

Travel writer Pico Iyer said it best, “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed.”

The curiosity, motivation, and hunger to unveil something new for yourself is what matters most.

Why do YOU love to travel? What is your next destination?