Mango Languages

Tongue Twisters Around the World

Need a few Monday laughs? Check out this video of tongue twisters from around the world!

I’m not sure which is funnier: hearing someone attempt a tough tongue twister or thinking about their actual meaning!

This Finnish one looks tough:
“Kokko! Kokookko kokoon koko kokon? Koko kokonko? Koko kokon.”
Kokko (a first name)! Would you gather up a bonfire? The entire bonfire? The entire bonfire.

In the video, Fred from Montreal (at 1:38) said this French one:
“Les chemises de l’archi-duchesse, sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches?”
The shirts of the duchess, are they dry or extra-dry?

How about this Welsh one:
“Pesychwch fel y pesychasoch gynt.”
Cough like you coughed earlier.

Do you have a favorite foreign language tongue twister?

World Wednesday: Chong Yang Festival

The Chong Yang Festival, otherwise known as the Double Ninth Festival, is observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese Lunar calendar. In 2011, that’s today (Oct. 5).

The name “Chong Yang” in Chinese actually means “double Yang,” and while that might be reminiscent of Chris Farley’s explanation of El Nino, the Yang in this case actually comes from the Chinese concept Yin and Yang. In a nutshell, Yin and Yang represent the positive and negative sides of everything. Yin is considered to be the negative side, while Yang was dubbed positive. This concept was applied to numbers: even numbers belong Yin, and odd ones to Yang. Since nine is an odd number, it belongs to Yang, and since this is a double nine: Double Yang. Also noteworthy, since nine is the largest odd number, putting two nines together symbolizes longevity. Often, there is a focus on the elderly during this celebration.

So how is Chong Yang celebrated? Well, legend has it that a man named Huan Jing was told about a terrible event that would happen on the ninth day of the ninth month, and that he had to rush home and take his family to the top of a mountain, spray dogwood on his bags, and drink chrysanthemum wine to escape their plight. Long story short, they climbed the mountain, sprayed their bags, and drank the wine. This is the tradition that continues today, and the fall weather is perfect for doing this. Many people head outdoors and either hike or climb in the country, and this is generally the last time in the year that people have a chance to do this before winter.

Mango goes to DC

Earlier this week Jane (government ambassador) and I visited the nation’s capitol to spend time with a few government customers, give a talk on alternative uses for a library degree (aka librarian gone vendor), and talk to a few potential mango customers.

First stop was Gallaudet University where we stayed. What a cool college…it is the world leader in liberal education and career development for deaf and hard of hearing students. They had a fantastic little shuttle that took us all over the city.

Second stop was dinner at Jaleao…and bonus it was resturant week…. OMG! We had a five course Spanish Tapas meal for a steal! We met some Mango friends and enjoyed wonderful conversation and the ambiance of a national landmark in Chinatown.

Third stop was to be complete tourists and enjoy the city by moonlight. We had both been to DC several times but never have enjoyed the monuments all a glow. We were both in awe of how grand and majestic the city was at night.

Fourth Stop was in the morning of the next day – we had to get some more delicious food. And stumbled upon the cutest little French cafe which transported us to Paris with its Cafe au Lait and Pan au Chocolate (chocolate filled croissant) and enchanting French music.

After we filled our tummies we headed over to the Library of Congress. Now if you are a Librarian this is the mothership of all libraries. I felt smarter just walking in. Jane gave a great panel presentation from a former medical librarian’s perspective and how she came to work for Mango…FYI she now wears a Hawaiian lei and tie dye t-shirt to work!After her awesome speech we had other meetings at the Library of Congress and got to walk in the underground tunnels between buildings and see the reading room on the 5th floor. The business library…it was so cool. It has an art deco influence and had the coolest carvings of owls.

Our last stop for the day was at the National Geographic Society. This was really cool! I am a travel addict and this was travelers dream. Books upon books on languages, places and maps of all around the world. I totally geeked out! They even had an exhibit on Machu Picchu which I hiked back in 2007. It is a beautiful place with amazing building skills. On top of all of that, we got to go to the Explorers Hall. Where the explorers used go to report on their exhibitions. All we could think about was the travels and stories that were shared in that room. Soooo amazing! People like Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall and so many more. WOW!

Our last visit was to Rand Corporation where we met two great librarians and chatted about world peace! Lots of great things happening there!

Overall, we had a great time, met some great people and have great memories. What is your favorite thing to do in DC?

Happy Chinese New Year from Mango!

Today marks the Chinese New Year. The Chinese year 4709 begins today; it is also the year of the rabbit.

In China, the New Year is a time of family unity. Last year Jamie Zhang, our Senior Accountant, who speaks Chinese, taught us how to say Happy New Years in Mandarin.

Here’s a review:

Guò nián hǎo!
Happy New Year! (This is the more traditional greeting and can only be used for the Chinese New Year)

过‭ (‬guò) – to spend time
年 (nián) – year
好 (hǎo) – good

This year we would like to wish a Happy New Year from our family here at Mango, to yours!

10 reasons to celebrate 10/10/10

Today is a cool date…a perfect 10 day.

What does it all mean? I wasn’t sure until I started poking around the net.

This is what I found.

1. People love the number 10…they like top 10 lists (David Letterman loves these), and everyone wants to be a perfect “10.”

2. Historically, nothing significant happened on this date. Weird.

3. There is no mathematical reason for us to have a happy or bad day, but I wish you all the luck anyways. However, this date is considered lucky in Chinese culture, because the number 10 represents perfection or completion, according to the “I Ching,” an ancient Chinese text.

4. 42 is the ASCII code of the character *, which usually means “everything” in computer parlance.

5. 101010 (in Binary) = 42 Which means absolutely nothing.  Hmmm…..

6. The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy says that 42 is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.  But folks are still unsure of the exact question.

7. More than 7,000 events are expected to take place in 188 countries as part of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, “the single largest day of carbon-cutting action in the planet’s history,” according to the event’s organizer, environmental advocacy group 350.org, which is attempting to raise awareness about global warming issues.

8. Chapels and halls are booked solid for today’s date: many nuptials and weddings are being shared today. More than 30,000 weddings are planned today across the country, according to Brides Magazine and online registries. I hope all those folks can remember their anniversary dates!

9. Today is also World Hoop Day. It was founded in 2006, and is dedicated to bringing dance, exercise, and toy hoops to children all over the world. That is just a cool mission!

10. Byram, N.J., resident Raymond Barnaba has been waiting quite a while for 10/10/10.  He was born on Oct. 10, 1910 and turns 100 today. Happy Birthday Raymond!  You deserve a special day!  I am excited for all the babies who will be born today too!

I hope you all enjoy the day as today’s date signals the end of repeating, single-digit dates, for at least another 90 years.

What did you do to celebrate 10-10-10?

Mango shoots for the Moon Cakes

Jamie our Accountant brought in traditional moon cakes for us to try. Yummy!

Don't Call Me Loony, I Just Love Mooncake.

The Mid-Autumn Festival–also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or Zhongqiujie–has been celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people for over 3,000 years!  It is traced back to moon worship in the Shang Dynasty in China, and has some really interesting roots in Chinese legend and folklore.

Held on the 15^th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar (late September/early October), this date corresponds with the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, at which time the moon is supposed to be at its fullest and roundest. It is an exceptionally important day on the Chinese calendar, and is even a legal holiday in several countries.  Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the harvest moon, and eat and drink together.

Different regional and cultural customs accompany this festival, as it is so widespread.  Some of these include carrying or hanging bright lanterns, burning incense in reverence to deities, planting mid-autumn trees, and even more depending on where you go.  One thing that is fairly consistent, however, is the mooncake pastry.  This pastry has a thin skin and contains a dense and sweet filling often made from lotus seed paste.

Do you know anyone who celebrates the mid-autumn festival?  Have you ever eaten a mooncake?

Language or Dialect: The War of Similarities

According to ethnologue.org, there are 6,909 languages in the world, from Mandarin Chinese, with 870 million speakers, to moribund languages with one or two aged speakers.  What counts as a language though?  Let’s see some examples:

Let’s say that “language” is the standard language of a country.  This would mean that Romani, the language of the gypsies, that has more or less 1.5 million speakers, is not a language.  Neither is Kurdish, with 16 to 35 million speakers.  Let’s also take a look at the Balkan languages: in the former Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian was one of the standard languages, as Serbian and Croatian differ from each other as much as American English differs from British English.  In the same area today we find Serbian and Croatian–two languages.  What happened?  We realize that once new countries were established, former dialects became standard languages.  Hence, “language” cannot mean “standard language,” since what qualifies as a dialect or as standard language depends on geographical and political changes and factors, and not just on the grammar or the vocabulary of the dialect.

Another example like the one of Yugoslavia is Danish and Norwegian.  Both languages are standard languages but they are almost identical regarding grammar and vocabulary.  And so a Dane and a Norwegian can talk to each other, each speaking their own language, and be mutually understood.  The reason is that Norway was under Danish occupation for centuries and at that time Norwegian was just a dialect of Danish.

The opposite situation is happening in China: there are many dialects in China and those with the most speakers are Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese.  However, these two dialects have deep differences in grammar and in vocabulary.  The differences are like those we have between Romance languages, like Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, etc., which are called “languages.”  So again, grammatical and lexical differences do not constitute the characteristics that would differentiate a dialect from a language.  Talking about the Romance languages, it is obvious that there are many common elements in grammar and vocabulary, but based on these attributes, couldn’t one say that they are dialects of Latin?

There are many, many examples like these: think about the Arabic dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible, or Venetian, spoken in Venice, which is cognate with Italian but quite distinct from the standard language.  Or Sicilian…

We see then that there are languages that could be dialects of other languages and dialects that could be languages.  So, what is the difference between a dialect and a language after all?

The answer can be what the Yiddish linguist Max Weireich said, “Language is a dialect with an army and navy” or simply “… a dialect supported by influential people.”  When a community wants to become independent from another community, as it happened in Denmark and Norway, they make their dialect a language.  When they do not want to become independent and their dialect has some sort of similarity with the standard language, then they say that they speak a dialect of the standard.

Can you think of a good example of what is a language or dialect?  Please share by writing a comment.

Video: Mandarin Chinese Tongue Twister

Jamie in accounting at Mango Languages shows off her mad tongue twister skills in Mandarin Chinese. Can you repeat what she says? We couldn’t!

Right to Left Languages

There are many languages that are written in a completely different direction than English.  Actually, the script is what decides directionality.

This can cause lots of confusion when learning a language.  When entering text, most of our computers won’t allow for changing text directions unless you create special settings.

Some examples of Right to Left Languages include:

1. Arabic
2. Hebrew
3. Farsi
4. Pashto
5. Urdu

Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are also challenging as they can be written either way depending on usage.

When learning a new language, be sure that you understand which direction the language should be written.

What other languages have interesting direction issues?