Mango Languages

Reporting for Dudy!

Alright, so the joke was stupid – Dudy is just the Czech term for bagpipes.

For four days in late August on every second year, the Czech Bagpipe Festival, or Mezinarodni Dudacky Festivalu, takes place in the town of Strakonice.  Bagpipes are paraded from the town to the local 16^th century castle nearby.

Bagpipes from all over the world are on display, along with dancers in traditional costumes.   These aren’t just your stereotypical kilted Irishmen, though.   There are many different styles of bag piping, and some performers are accompanied by bands with singers and dancers.

The festival began as a celebration of the town’s 600^th birthday in 1967.   Most of the activity is held within the castle, which includes a museum with a Dudy exhibit, but there are plenty of bagpipe sellers and an abundance of readily-available cheap beer.

If you’re interested checking out some folks in active Dudy, find the video here. Have you ever seen a bagpipe performance?

Pourcailhade

Every year on the second Sunday of August, the town of Trie Sur Baise, France is as happy as a pig in mud.  Seriously. Put on by the Brotherhood of the Pig, Pourcailhade is the French festival celebrating the swine.

Trie Sur Baise, where the festival takes place, is one of the largest pig raising areas in France and actually has a dedicated market for everything pig.  During the week of the event, there are eating contests, a pig-outfit contest, general festivities around the whole town, and the biggest event–the national pig imitation competition, in which contestants must not just make pig sounds but be able to do so corresponding to different portions of the pig’s life, like feeding or reproduction.

On top of this, every business in the town must create its own personal character, image, or cartoon of a pig to participate.

So don your snout, your wiry tail, and your best oink, and make your way to France (or send one of your piggish in-laws) to roll around in this festival.

World Wife Carrying Championship!

Alright girls, so we might not have carried you home after the wedding like they do in the movies, but here’s your second chance!

Every year, there is an event held in Sonkajarvi, Finland, in which men race to the end of a 253.5 meter official track while carrying a woman (she doesn’t have to be your wife) through two dry obstacles, and one 3m deep water obstacle.  You can carry your “wife” any way you please: piggyback, fireman (over your shoulder), or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders and her hands around his waist).

The sport got its origin only about 15 years ago, though it is said to be based on a joke reminiscent of the past, in which men courted women by running to their village, picking them up, and carrying them away.

Today, the sport is practiced worldwide, with a notable competition right here in Marquette, Michigan!  There is a North American Championship held in Maine, after which the winning couple goes to Finland to compete in the world championship.

This year’s champion won a plasma T.V. and his weight in beer.  Who’s signing up with me??

Intuitive Language Construction – Part IV Culture

We are excited to continue sharing our language learning methodology–we call it the linguistic science behind the Mango Languages Online Language Learning Software.

Intuitive Language Construction was developed after looking at current products on the market and listening to feedback from users. The one thing we heard over and over is that they wanted a program that was fun, easy, completely integrated, and that included the following components:

1. Vocabulary (Click to see previous post)
2. Pronunciation (Click to see previous post)
3. Grammar (Click to see previous post)
4. Culture
5. Comprehension
6. Retention

In this post we are going to discuss the fourth component of Intuitive Language Construction…Culture.  This is another big difference in the Intuitive Language Construction methodology.

Mango integrates cultural notes and tips into every lesson, ensuring our students develop an understanding for the expectations, traditions, and etiquette of the people with whom they want to communicate.   Most language learning systems simply ignore culture, but at Mango we think it really is critical to a student’s success in a foreign country.

For example, imagine you didn’t understand the difference between formal and informal greetings.  You wouldn’t want to walk into a meeting with your new boss and exclaim, “Hey Dude. What’s up?”  It would be inappropriate, and in some cultures, it would be a really big offense!  It could possibly even get you fired.

At the same time, you wouldn’t want to be introduced to a new friend at a café, and say something like “I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance.”  That’s a little too formal and can be off-putting.

Understanding culture helps people understand which conversational tools are most appropriate for which situations and which audiences.  Our curriculum is developed by native speaking professional language teachers – many of whom teach at the university level and hold PhDs.  They really understand the cultural challenges that a learner will face for a specific language, and they carefully design each learning experience to help students overcome those challenges.  You just can’t get that through the common word and phrase lists that other learning systems offer.

Why do you think culture is important in the language learning process?  Or do you have a funny cross cultural story to share?

No, I wanted CHOCOLATE flavored chocolate!

This day in history was the first time chocolate was introduced to Europe in 1550.  At the time, it was much different than what we have come to love in recent years.

The ancient Mayans, near present day southern Mexico and northern Central America, were actually the first society to have grown cacao, around 250-900 AD.  People took the tree from the rain forest and harvested it, roasting and grinding the seeds into a paste, which they mixed with water, chili peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients to make a frothy and spicy chocolate drink.  No, they didn’t call it “hot chocolate.”

The Aztecs, around 1400, also took to this spicy drink, but made it available almost exclusively to only high members of society like rulers and soldiers.  In both societies, however, chocolate was involved in religious and royal ceremonies.

In 1521, Europe had its first taste of chocolate through Spain, who discovered it via the Aztec culture.  They then began shipping the cacao seeds back home.  The drink remained a high-status beverage, as the cacao seeds were a very expensive import.  The Spanish sweetened the drink with cinnamon and sugar, and after that, this new sweetened chocolate drink swept across Europe and became extremely popular. It wasn’t until the 1800s, however, that chocolate was made available and affordable to the general public by mass production.

Yum!  So don’t you think it’s interesting that two different cultures had such a different takes on the same drink?  The Aztecs and Mayans produced a much different drink than what the Europeans created!

Gotta Have My Java!

It’s a safe bet that most people reading this are no strangers to Java.  Let me rephrase that- most people reading this are most likely no stranger to a cup of Java.  How many people are familiar with the island of Java, however, is an entirely different question.

Java is actually the 5^th largest island in Indonesia, and the 13^th largest island in the world. Home to a population of 130 million, it beats the Japanese island Honshu for the most populous island in the world.  Most people speak Indonesian, either as a first or second language, alongside languages like Javanese (in development for release by Mango!), Sudanese, and Madurese.

Java is almost entirely volcanic, which has created abundantly rich soil. This, along with the ideal climate, has made Java a perfect place for its coffee industry to flourish and become synonymous with our morning cup of Joe.

So, do you think you could you make it all the way to Java without a cup of Java?

Video: Time Around the World

This is a great video discussing how time is perceived differently by various cultures.  When we learn about foreign languages and cultures, one of the largest differences is the concept of time.  Watch this interesting video to learn more.

How do you perceive time? Why do you think you perceive time that way?