Mango Languages

Coming Soon: A New Mango Website!

We are so excited to announce the launch of our new website. We have been busy working to improve  our existing website www.mangolanguages.com and have added all sorts of cool features to make it as fun and informative as possible. Our new website will launch with a new, more interactive interface.  It will be the place to find everything you need to know about Mango Languages!

The new site has been customized for each of the markets that we’re serving. You can look forward to getting more of information about our languages, products, customer service, FAQ’s, testimonials, and so much more. You can also learn about the elves that work here at Mango Languages. We basically live and breathe language learning around here, but we make sure to have fun doing it. You’ll have a chance to dive into the Mango Culture through videos about the unique people that are behind the creation and production of  the Mango Courses.

Ultimately we wanted to provide a website that allows everyone to see what we’re all about. Not only what and who Mango is, but how and why it works so well. You’ll be able to meet the owners and see what has inspired them to come up with what Mango Languages is today.

We’re very excited about this and hope you enjoy the new site. It’s coming in the next few weeks!

So Excited About Mango!

With all the new, fun, and awesome developments here at our Mango office, our Product Director has decided to show his excitement by sharing a poem with all the Mango fans out there.

Languages languages everywhere I see.

Foreign language smiling back at me.

French and Hindi sitting down to tea

Merci, and dhanyawad, happy as can be.

Conversing is fun now that I found the key

Mango makes learning, ever so easy

Here come Swedish and Dari making a plea

Next I’ll speak Azerbaijani

-Steve Perakis

As you can see the excitement level is at at high here. What languages are you excited to learn?

Video: Mango Languages Promos – Webisode 3

We have some very fun Mango Gear and there is one Mango who can’t get enough…Steve. Check out how he “tests” the promotional items for us.

Which is your favorite Mango item?

Fall is All Around

Hello friends,

When you look out of your window, do you experience as amazing fall colors as we do here in Michigan? Red, yellow, green, brown…  Monet would surely be inspired looking at this beautiful array of colors and would probably create another great masterpiece inspired by Michigan’s beauty.  Mother Nature was very gracious to Detroit these last few days. She granted us with lots of sun and warm air. What about smell? No, I am not talking about the pollution in the city! If you are outside, stop for a moment, close your eyes, forget about the world and smell….. I smell fresh fall leaves, a little bit of rain. And just when you think the gloom of winter is near, out comes the sun – oops, a sunbeam just touched my nose! I love fall!! Isn’t life amazing when we actually stop for a moment to enjoy all the beauty that this planet has to offer?

Looking at all the fall colors I always remember my home country, Ukraine, which is also very beautiful during the fall. Ukraine has very similar weather, breathtaking fall colors, and lots of apples.  Speaking of apples, this past weekend my one-year-old daughter enjoyed her first trip to the Cider Mill with my family and she loooooved the apple cider.  It is amazing because she gets the privilege to experience so many things for the first time in her life. Even though she might not be able to remember them for a long time being so young, childhood memories do build up and amazingly influence our being.

How do you experience fall?

From Snail-Mail to Email

Hello Mango Fans.  This morning after talking to another fellow Mango about our study abroad experiences, it got me thinking about how technology has changed our lives. When he went on a study abroad trip a couple decades ago, communicating with people back home wasn’t as easy. One was left with the options of writing letters by hand and the occasional, expensive, landline phone call.  When I studied abroad last year in Madrid, I sent picture messages to my friends back home, updated my Facebook status through my Blackberry, and got to physically communicate with my family and friends for free with Skype.

We treat technology as a family member, even if that is a little co-dependent. You can’t blame us, though; it’s certainly made aspects of our lives easier!  We’re no longer forced to send letters through the postal service, book vacations through travel agents, shop in stores, visit the library for research material, or wait for our photos to be developed.  Thanks to technology, all of these activities can be performed either digitally or online.

Think about it, kids these days don’t have to get caught passing notes to each other, they can just text.  Instead of buying greeting cards at Hallmark we can send ecards for special occasions that get delivered instantaneously to multiple people. We are no longer bound to long-distance charges, either. Many folks have already kicked their landline phones to the curb and replaced them with Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) and mobile phones.

With thousands of applications now available at our fingertips with the use of iPhones, Blackberrys , and other smartphones (including the Mango iPhone application), people are more addicted to their phones than ever before.  The world we live in is moving at, what feels like, the speed of light when it comes to technology. For the most part, however, technology does us more good than harm: it’s reconnected us with old college roommates, helped us learn foreign languages, and encouraged us to exercise.

As you read this blog on your iPad, laptop, smartphone, or even TV screen think about the ways technology has changed your life.

Maybe in a couple more decades, when students sign up for to study abroad they can be teleported across the pond any time they choose. We’ll see…

Video: Mango Languages: Fiesta Friday, Webisode 1

We are a hard working language learning software company who like to have fun, too.  Here is a peak into the Mango Languages Corporate Culture.

Here at Mango, We Love our Coffee!

While working here at Mango Languages I have learned over time that many of the Mangoes are big coffee lovers. I was elated to find this out, since I myself am very fond of this warm, caffeinated, and delicious beverage. It all started with the gathering of Mangoes by the industrial coffee maker to pour themselves a cup o’joe throughout the day.  Then once we moved to our new office I was greeted by a 12-cup Mr. Coffee every morning along with a collection of sweeteners and creamers. Later I started seeing the variety of ground coffee brands along with a french press here and there.  I have decided to dedicate this Monday’s blog to coffee, after all more than 1400 millions cups of coffee are drunk every day worldwide.

Really Fun Facts About Coffee:

-Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee

-70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drinks Robusta, which is more bitter-tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica.

-Coffee grows on trees

-The bean is actually a seed inside of a bright red berry

-Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth, after oil.

-The term “Americano” comes from America GIs during WWII. They would order espresso with water to dilute the strong flavor.

-The term “cup of joe” comes from American servicemen (GI Joes) in WWII being seen as big coffee drinkers.

-Brazil produces around 40% of the world’s coffee supply.

-October 1^st is official “Coffee Day” in Japan

-65 countries in the world grow coffee. They are all along the equator, within the tropics.

-It takes 40 coffee beans to make an espresso

-A coffee tree lives for between 60 and 70 years.

Who knew!

Ready to become a coffee expert? Follow this chart and you’ll be ordering grande, extra hot, non-fat, triple lattes with extra foam in no time.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee

What do YOU love about coffee?

Video: Mango Open House

We had a great time! Finally was able to edit the video.

Thanks to all that joined us!

New Mango: Carly Atto

We are so excited to announce a new Mango.  Carly Atto is an intern and will be helping product development, library integration, and marketing.

She has been studying French since 7th grade, but began to study it much more seriously in college.  She studied abroad from January-July 2009 in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, near Marseille.  While there she traveled throughout France, as well as to Italy, Ireland, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and Egypt.  She graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2010 with a dual degree in French and Communications.

She is 100% Chaldean (Catholic Iraqi) and her mom was actually born in Iraq.  She is the youngest of 4 kids.   She really enjoys cooking and the performing arts and was a member of an a capella group throughout her 4 years at U of M.

Welcome Carly!

"Do you speak-a my language?"

I love that line in the Men at Work song “Land Down Under.”   Probably dates me a bit though!

Did you know that 85% of Mangoes in our Headquarters speak a foreign language and several of them do not speak English at home? All of our 150 developers and editors are 100% bi-lingual.   Language is more than just what we do for a living, it is an important part of who we are as individuals.   Many of us have lived abroad, were raised by multilingual families, and/or studied foreign languages formally in secondary school and college.

Many of the staff members are tri-lingual and some can even speak four or five languages.  I am always impressed by all the foreign languages I hear around the office.  For example, at lunch today about 10 of us were discussing slang Russian/Ukrainian terms.   We often times discuss cultural norms and language nuances.

I am always learning something new about the world around me, and for that I am very grateful.

Do you know of any other companies that are so linguistically diverse?