Mango Languages

Feature Friday: Meet New Mango: Meagan Snavely

Mango is growing and fast! Thanks to all of you!

We are so excited to welcome Meagan Snavely to the Mango Team. Meagan heard about Mango through a friend in the Deaf community here in Michigan and then saw Mango a job fair. She went to Michigan State University and majored in psychology with a minor in educational studies. She absolutely loves learning, so much so that directly after graduating, she went to Lansing Community College to study American Sign Language through its Interpreter Training Program where she was introduced to Deaf culture and fell in love with this culture!

Meagan will be answering phones, helping customers with questions, and saving the world one Mango customer activation at a time. Her title here is “People Pleaser.” We love that about her!

Other things you MUST know about Meagan are: she is still completely fascinated by American Sign Language. Which is great because Mango is developing an ASL program. Woo hoo! She loves to take risks and chopped all of her hair off to donate it to kids with Alopecia. In doing so, she has found a new love for scarves! Some of her other loves include: word games, things that make you think, and laughing. She is very excited to be a part of the Mango Team and we are so glad to have her here!

Please help us welcome Meagan to the Mango Grove!

Feature Friday: Celebrating Veterans Day

The origin of Veterans Day dates back the end of World War I, which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. The date was November 11th, 1918. The signing of an armistice agreement between Germany and the Allies marked the end of the First World War, known as the “great war” or the first “war to end all wars.” From then on, November 11th was referred to as Armistice Day and it became a day to commemorate the veterans who served in the war. Unfortunately, war continued beyond World War I and after World War II and the Korean War, President Eisenhower signed a bill drafted by Congress in 1954 to rename the day in honor of all fallen heroes, officially changing its name from “Armistice Day” to “Veterans Day.”

While Memorial Day typically focuses on those who gave their lives in service of their country, Veterans Day is more focused on thanking the living veterans of war. Over the years, Americans have chosen to serve for many reasons — during the Revolutionary War, to create a nation; in World War II, to save humanity from destruction; at various times, to help pay for college. Still, no matter the motivation, our men and women continue to give their all for our country.

Mango Languages salutes and supports both those active and veteran members of our military. Mango Languages is proud to help those serving our country with our 5 Mango Military courses. With customized content in Dari, Pashto, Levantine Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and Urdu, the conversations are critical to the success and safety of military members around the world. Knowing the importance of foreign language to the armed forces, our courses were designed to meet standards and criteria set by the federal government. Mango Military is most commonly offered via a military library, often allowing personnel and their dependents access to both Mango Basic and Complete foreign language courses.

So how can we continue to support our veterans? Thank them. Talk to them. Invite them to schools so they can share their experiences and teach our children that we all must take care of each other, on the battlefield and in life. It was Colin Powell who said: “Many people refer to the World War II generation as the greatest one, but we’ve had greatness in every single generation of Americans who have served.”

This year on Veterans Day, you can put out your flags, cheer the marchers at parades, and go to veteran tributes. But when you wake up the next day, November 12, remember that it’s still Veterans Day for our veterans–and it will be every day of their lives.

Portions of this blog are shared from Gen. Colin L. Powell’s essay, published in the Sunday edition, November 6, 2011, Parade magazine.

What are you doing today (and everyday) to honor our veterans?

Feature Friday: Libraries Rock

First, I have to say I LOVE my job. And this is one of those times that really reminds me how lucky I am to get to do what I do with such cool customers – Libraries.

Mango likes to have fun…and at the New York Library Association trade show we really like to do it up. Why? Because we have a serious reputation to uphold. We have won best booth for two years running and the themes of the shows keep getting better and better. This years theme is Libraries Rock. And we couldn’t agree more!

Libraries are centers of the community. They are Google, Amazon, and Starbucks all rolled into one super human hero of searching capabilities and knowledge. I read a tweet today from the #nyla11 Hashtag that said 60% of librarians had helped someone get a job this year. Libraries are helping to keep this country working too! Wow!

We are always humbled by the words of love that our customers give to us…we honestly love you too. We wouldn’t be here without you and say thank you for all you have given us! I know that I have made some wonderful librarian friends and can’t wait for next year’s theme and show to do it all again!

Libraries…YOU rock! Thanks for letting us be your groupies!