Mango Languages

Pattaya International Music Festival

This year, the Pattaya (not “Pad Thai”) Festival will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in Thailand. The festival is regarded as one of the largest international beach festivals in all of Asia and features over 100 artists from both Thailand and abroad.

With an expected turnout of over 400,000 people, this festival is most definitely going to be making a great deal of noise from March 18-20th.

There is literally something for everyone here.  From rock, to jazz, to pop, a little bit of everything will be featured at the festival.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, and is 46 days before Easter. It can occur anywhere from February 4th or as late as March 10th, and gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on one’s forehead as a sign of mourning and repentance.

A lot of the people here in the office celebrate Lent every year – a period of 40 days of fasting and reflection before Easter. Most followers of Christianity observe Lent during the period beginning from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday. Sundays do not count as a day of fasting because they are each observed as a “mini-Easter.”

Lent, which comes from the Germanic word for Spring time is often seen as a spiritual spring cleaning. This is why Lent begins with a symbol of repentance in the form of  ashes and oil on one’s forehead.

Have you seen anyone with ashes on their forehead today?

Get Ready… Get Set… Travel!

March is an exciting month for us here at Mango Languages. Along with all the cool and exciting projects that we are working on, March marks the kick off of our attendance at the Travel and Adventure trade shows.

Planning to travel this year? The Travel and Adventure, the show for REAL travelers, will be hosting travel expos across the country this year promoting all things travel. Mango Languages will be exhibiting in Washington DC on March 12-13 at booth #1013 and in Los Angeles March 19-20 at booth #1132

Attend the Travel and Adventure expo to find your next vacation, attend informative seminars, experience hands-on adventure activities, see cultural performances, win prizes and visit the Mango Booth!

If you live in DC or LA or will be in town around those dates, make sure to stop by and get all the information you’re looking for regarding your traveling needs, including learning to speak a foreign language with our consumer product Mango Passport!

Can’t attend the expos? Planning an international trip? Want to know what the waiter is recommending to try while visiting Rome?

Go to www.MangoLangauges.com to try a free Mango lesson and see how you like it.  Whether you’re traveling for business, pleasure, or something in between, Mango
Passport is the perfect companion. Focused on practical conversation skills for common
situations, Passport delivers the language tools you need to navigate a new country, engage in polite conversation, and seek out authentic cultural experiences.

We hope to see you there!

So, globe trotters, where are YOU planning on traveling this year?

Hey, You Punched my Blini!

Maslenitsa, also known as “Butter Week,” “Pancake Week,” or “Cheesefare Week,” could possibly be one of the most intriguing religious holidays in the world.

A folk holiday that has not been officially celebrated for 85 years, Maslenitsa began again in 2002.  Its roots are actually in pagan ritual, celebrating the sun and the end of winter, though the festival is now Christian in nature. It is held the last week before the Orthodox Lent begins every year, and is considered the last time of year that Russian Orthodox Christians can eat things like milk, cheese, and other dairy products. Naturally, this is a time when many people like to feast, especially on pancakes (called “blini/bliny” in Russian). Blini are an essential food for Maslenitsa, and unlike American pancakes, they are usually topped with caviar, mushrooms, jam, sour cream, and butter.

Although the roots of the festival are interesting, some of the activities during the week of Maslenitsa are really uncanny. Take the group fist fighting, for instance.  It may sound violent, but this is all done in good fun to commemorate Russian military history, when soldiers supposedly fought each other in hand to hand combat.  Not unusual enough for you? In the past, tamers and their bears used to perform and wrestle during the festival. I’m sure you can imagine who usually won.

Other activities include bonfires, sledding, theater, puppetry, singing, and fireworks. So if you have an extra pair of boxing gloves and a week to eat some tasty pancakes, head on over to Moscow.

Do you know of any other holidays which have both pagan and religious roots?

And the Oscar goes to…

This weekend we celebrated the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. The celebration took place at the Kodak theater in Hollywood, California, where actors, directors, and designers came together to see which films and actors were going to receive the Oscar, the highest honor in film production.

Among many of the categories, Foreign Language Film, was one that I was looking forward to the most. The nominee list consisted of incredible and diverse films; Biutiful (Mexico), Dogtooth (Greece), In a Better World (Denmark), Incendies (Canada), and Outside the Law (Algeria). Each of the movies represented a unique and moving story, immersing the audience in different cultures and outlooks on the world we live in.

The Oscar went to In a Better World from Denmark, a dramatic film about violence, friendship, family, and the clashing of all three. On the topic of creating this film, director Susanne Bier said,  “Our experiment in this film is about looking at how little it really takes before a child – or an adult – thinks something is deeply unjust. It really doesn’t take much, and I find that profoundly interesting. And scary.”

I personally thought that In a Better World, was a beautiful film that tested human relationships as well as emotions through an incredible story. I recommend everyone to go and see it along with the rest of the nominated foreign language films.

Want to get the full experience of the film instead of focusing on the English subtitles? Brush up on your Danish through your library for free with Mango!

Have you seen any of the nominated foreign language films? Which ones? Do you speak the language they were filmed in?

Celebrate Mother Languages

Today is International Mother Language Day. It is a celebration of all the things we at Mango Languages believe and are inspired by: the emphasis and acknowledgment of the value of language as a integral part of communication throughout humanity. International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It has been observed for over a decade to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, multilingualism, and to preserve and protect all languages spoken by all people.

Here at Mango Languages, we strive to do just that. Our passion for languages and cultures have allowed us to see the diverse world we live in as storybook full of history. The story can be told in many different ways and it is our responsibility to uncover as much as possible of it through the power of language. This in turn will force us to be more aware of the cultural diversity around us and allow us to take further steps to peace.

Embrace what makes our world such a beautiful place: the diverse people who live in it. We may all come from a different background, and may speak a different language, but we all have a story to tell. Let’s all listen and try to understand.

“Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.” -United Nations

What is YOUR mother tongue?

Celebrate Greek Carnival

Halloween and dressing up occurs in October in the United States, but in Europe and South America (Rio) it is in February. So here are some things about how we celebrate it in Greece, including a bit of linguistics, folklore, and religion.

According to one view, the word “carnival” comes from early Italian carve + levare, which means “take away the meat” (carne). The Greek word for it is apokreea (stress on the last -a-), which again means “away from meat.” In both Orthodox and Catholic religions, the focus is on eating what meat is left in the house before Lent (the traditional period of fasting before Easter) starts.

Greek carnival is a combination of religious and pagan festivities. Following the Church, there are three weeks dedicated to gradually reducing the consumption of certain foods up to the beginning of Lent. In these three weeks people should also celebrate and have a good time before starting the fast, a period of repentance. Two are the high points of this season: the Thursday of the first week, which is dedicated to eating meat, is called tseeknopemptee: pemptee is the name of the day (Thursday or the fifth day of the week) and tseekna refers to the smell of charcoaled meat, what you smell at barbecues. On that Thursday night people go out to tavernas to celebrate and drink and have a good time; you can smell tseekna everywhere.

The last of the three weeks is dedicated to the consumption of dairy products and fish and the Monday just after it is called Clean Monday, something like Shrove Monday, which marks the beginning of Lent. On this Monday we should not eat meat or dairy products – we should be “clean” of all that.  Only shellfish is allowed, and people go out to the countryside and have picnics and fly kites since the weather is usually permitting .  During these weeks people dress up and play pranks.  Parades are held in all the cities. Dressing up is a pagan custom that has to do with scaring away the evil winter spirits before spring comes.

How all this is connected to the way people lived:

According to Professor N.S. Margaris, all these traditions are closely related to the way people lived. Sheep and goats usually breed in January. Because there was lots of snow on the ground,  shepherds could not take them out to the pastures and were forced to reduce their number: tsiknopemptee is a relic of this tradition. After that, spring comes and there is plenty of grass; eating meat is thus forbidden up to Easter so that sheep and goats can grow.

Another tidbit:

On two of the Saturdays during this period people honor the dead. In many places in Greece people cook pasta. Now, the food that is given to those who come to wake the dead is called makareea, which means “blessing.” According to one view, the word “macaroni,” a kind of pasta, derives from makareea, or makareea + (e)oni(a) [eon] = “eternal blessing.” And all this time you thought that pasta was Italian?

Baoutha

Exactly three weeks before the start of Lent, the Chaldean Catholic Church celebrates Baoutha — a three day celebration composed of fasting and prayer.

As the story goes, in the 6th Century, a severe plague was inflicting the northern regions of Iraq, what would today be the city of Mosul. Out of desperation, the people ran to their Bishop to help them with this plight. A three day fast was declared, and the city was not destroyed. On the fourth day, the Chaldean people rejoiced, giving rise to Baoutha.

Baoutha is a word which in Aramaic means “pleading.” Since the actual event, Chaldeans all around the world have celebrated this by fasting for three days. In modern days, this event is treated as a penance, wherein people ask for forgiveness.

We have several people in the office who celebrate this holiday.

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!

The Muscat Festival

Beginning in 1998, the Muscat Festival in Muscat, Oman, is a celebration of both traditional arts and culture. Muscat as a city itself is one of the most multicultural centers in the world. Its blend of extreme tradition mixed with modern attractions, along with its position geographically make it a perfect link between Asia, Africa, and Europe.

This year’s festival begins on the 27th of January, and is expected to outdo last year’s attendance of over 2 million people. The festival lasts literally just days short of a whole month, and includes everything from fashion shows, to food festivals, to an extreme sailing series. Littered with concerts, traditional artists, as well as educational events like lectures and novel discussions, this festival literally has something for everyone to enjoy.

Have you been to an international or multicultural festival anywhere in the world? Tell us about it!