Mango Languages

Shanah Tovah! (Happy New Year)

Today, at sunset begins the Jewish New Year called ראש השנה (Rosh Hashana), literally meaning the “Head of the Year.”  On the Hebrew calendar, this will be the first day of the year 5772.

Rosh Hashanah symbolizes a time of reflection called the aseret yamei teshuva, ten days of penitence. Jews believe that while they can find forgiveness for sins committed against the Boss,  it is left to them to seek out and apologize to people they feel they have wronged in the previous year. The aseret yamei teshuva end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Many Jews go to Synagogues for Rosh Hashanah, asking  for forgiveness and pray to be inscribed in the “Book of Life” for a sweet and healthy New Year.

The most famous symbol of the holiday, the Shofar, is sounded in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah, and is critical to the obligations on Rosh Hashanah. The Shofar is  fashioned from a ram’s horn. Yonah Bookstein, from the Washington Post, says, “The blasts of the Shofar are likened both to the wordless cries of the humanity speaking to God and a wake-up call to the soul which transcends rational explanation.”

“Some  other cherished customs include: dipping challah and apples into honey and eating honey cake to symbolize our wish for a sweet new year; consuming  huge meals with too many courses, calories, and cousins; tossing bread crumbs into living waters during a ceremony called ‘Tashlich‘ to symbolically cast away our sins; and renewing synagogue memberships.” Rosh Hashanah brings the whole family together to celebrate the New Year.

A typical greeting is שנה טובה (shaNAH toVAH) meaning “Happy New Year.”  Shana means “year” and tovah means “good.”  Another common greeting is שנה טובה ומתוקה (shaNAH toVAH ve metooKAH) meaning “Happy and Sweet New Year.”  Metookah means “sweet.”

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and sweet New Year! Shanah Tovah!

Next Destination…Israel!

In honor of Travel Tuesday, I have decided to dedicate this blog post to the tiny and beautiful state of Israel. This historic state is full of beautiful places to visit and explore. Having grown up there, I can say that between the nightlife in Tel Aviv and the holy city of Jerusalem, Israel offers a cultural experience to last a lifetime.

I lived in Israel for about seven years and every time I go back to visit, I go to new places and learn something new.

There are many travel sites to research destinations around the world, one of them being www.goisrael.com. This site provides very helpful and interesting information about the state of Israel. Here’s a little intro to this unique place.

“Nothing underscores the variety of Israel’s attractions more than realizing that within a few hours you can go from the snowy heights of Mount Hermon to the Judean Desert and the saltiest sea on earth, the Dead Sea, while visiting ancient biblical cities, covered markets and a high-rise metropolis on the way. This is what makes Israel truly a destination with something for everyone.

In Israel you have to use the word ‘old’ sparingly – the age of most of its cities is counted not in decades or in centuries, but in millennia. The ingenuity and complexity of some of these historical gems have won them a place on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. And of course, Jerusalem is an incomparable highlight that is both historical and spiritual. Restored 19th century villages like Rosh Pina in the Upper Galilee and Zichron Ya’akov on Mount Carmel reveal another side of Israel – its pioneering days. Shops along these streets feature local arts and crafts that make the best gifts. They are often artist-owned as well, which holds the promise of getting to know some very interesting folks.

There’s no place like Tel Aviv to indulge your urban tastes. Classified by geographers as a ‘world city,’ it offers museums, opera, theater and dance, fine restaurants with cuisines from around the world, its own beautifully restored 19th-century quarter, Neve Tzedek and even antiquities, in the form of its ‘older sister’ – Jaffa, which also has galleries galore.”

Get started on your Mango Hebrew course and start planning your trip around the date of one of Israel’s many annual international events–whether music, sports, theater or film– and see how all the wonderful pieces fit perfectly together.

www.goisrael.com

The First Day of Hanukkah

Thursday marks the first day of Hanukkah this year, which occurs any time from late November to early December on the Gregorian calendar (the 25^th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar). Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days, starting at sunset the night before the first day – that’s tonight.

The word Hanukkah comes from the Hebrew word for “dedication” or “consecration”. This holiday marks the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in around 162 BCE. It is said that there was only enough oil to burn the flame inside of the temple for one day, however it lasted for eight- hence, eight candles to be lit.

Today, Hanukkah is celebrated both communally and just with family. Although it is still ok to work, many people like to head home a bit earlier to make sure they can light their candles at nightfall. There are also some traditional foods eaten around this time, depending on regions and ethnicity. Many are fried or baked in oil, like latkes (potato pancakes) and pontshkes (jam filled doughnuts).

We have a few people who work in the office celebrating Hanukkah this year. Do you know anyone celebrating the holiday this year?

Now There’s Even More Mango to Love!

From the our new website, and new product features, to new courses and languages, the Mango elves have been very busy around here.What are we celebrating this fine, foggy, Friday? We have just launched an additional 9 language courses!

What are the new language courses? Well, I’m glad you asked:

Farsi Complete 2.0

ESL French Complete 2.0

ESL German Complete 2.0

ESL Greek Complete 2.0

Hebrew Complete 2.0

ESL Italian Complete 2.0

Korean Complete 2.0

ESL Korean Complete 2.0

Vietnamese Complete 2.0

In the spirit of the new language courses, here are some fun facts:

-Did you know that Farsi is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and many other countries?

-Do you know how to say, “coffee with milk” in Vietnamese? (‘Ca-phe sua’- which has a lovely flavor, but beware… Vietnamese style coffee is strong!)

-The Italian language evolved from the Latin of the Roman Empire.

-Hebrew, a Semitic language, is one of the oldest languages in the world.

You learn something new everyday!

We are so excited about all these new courses! Now you can travel to France, Germany, Vietnam, Israel, Iran, Italy, Greece, Korea and many other amazing travel destinations and be able to communicate with the locals!

Which language/s are YOU excited to learn?

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?

10 Common Mistakes When Learning Hebrew

1. In Hebrew the adjective follows the noun, e.g. “city big.”  English speakers tend to put the noun after the adjective according to the English word order, e.g. “big city.”
2. Hebrew nouns, adjectives, and verbs have a designated gender (either female or male).  For example, “television” is feminine while “radio” is masculine. English speakers tend to mix up the genders.
3. Hebrew nouns, adjective, and verbs have to match in number and gender. Let’s take, for example, “a good pizza.” Since “pizza” is feminine, the adjective “good” should be feminine as well. English speakers have the tendency to forget this rule and do not match adjective, nouns, and verbs in number and gender.
4. In Hebrew there are two sets of numbers, feminine and masculine, which are used based on the noun that is being counted. For example, in the phrase “10 boys” the number ten is pronounced and written differently than in the phrase “10 girls.” English speakers easily confuse the two sets of numbers.
5. In Hebrew, the definite article is used both before the noun and before the adjective, e.g. “the cake the sweet.” English speakers tend to use the definite article only once as it is in English, “the sweet cake.”
6. The right use of prepositions is a source of frustration for English speakers. For example, in Hebrew we say “I spoke in the phone” and not “I spoke on the phone” as in English.
7. In Hebrew there are several guttural letters that English speakers have a hard time pronouncing and usually pronounce incorrectly. These guttural letters are “Cheit,” “Chaf,” and “Reish.” “Cheit” sounds like the German or Scottish “ch” but more guttural. “Reish” is pronounced like the French or German “r” or the Italian or Spanish “r” but usually harder.
8. Hebrew does not use “is,”  “are,” “do,” and “does,” which really confuses English speakers.  English speakers tend to make grammatical mistakes as they try to find alternative expressions.
9. Hebrew verbs have different forms. Each verb is conjugated by gender, tense, and number, which means we have to learn 12 different forms of each verb. This is a hard concept for English speakers to master.  In English verbs are conjugated by tense, not by gender or number.
10. A common pronunciation mistake is when English words are used in Hebrew. For example: “television” is pronounced “televizia,” “university” is pronounced “universita,” etc.

10 Tips to Learning Hebrew

1. A great way to expend vocabulary is to watch American movies dubbed in Hebrew that you watched before. Knowing the plot makes it easier to concentrate on the Hebrew words and catch some repeating words and / or phrases. You might also want to watch Israeli movies with English subtitles. You will be surprised as how many words you can learn.
2. Listening to Israeli music while jogging or riding the train is another fun and great way to expend vocabulary and catch some slang.
3. Practice, practice, practice. Find a partner and take a Hebrew course together. Practice Hebrew with your partner.
4. Find a neighbor, a facebook and or a SKYPE friend that speaks Hebrew or knows Hebrew better than you and practice.
5. Take a flight and visit Israel. Expose yourself to the language and the people.
6. Write Hebrew words on sticky – notes and stick them around the house.
7. Learn 10 new Hebrew words each day Monday – Friday, review on Saturday and relax on Sunday.
8. Reach your target step by step. Do not set big and extravagant goals. It will be easier and will keep up your motivation.
9. Surround yourself with Hebrew; listen to radio broadcasts, watch Israeli youtube clips, listen to Israeli music, surf the net and look for sites in Hebrew. Just make Hebrew part of your daily life.
10. Record yourself speaking Hebrew. Repeat the recording as many times as possible.

Do you have any tips that we have missed?