Mango Languages

Share Your Story!

One of the best parts of working at Mango Languages is seeing the product in action. Our company’s core purpose is to enrich lives with language and culture, so we love to hear from people who have used Mango Languages to do just that!

Last month, Mango traveled to Philadelphia for the Public Library Association 2012 conference. We had the chance to talk to many librarians who shared success stories of those who had used Mango to learn a language. Check out the video below to see some of our favorites!

Do you have a story to share? How has Mango enriched YOUR life?

Mango March Madness

Looking for ways to spread the word about Mango at your library? Take a note from the St. Clair County Library System in Michigan who celebrated Mango for an entire month! March was Mango Languages month, in which patrons could enter a drawing to win some awesome Mango swag. They were also directed to their library’s website to create an account and get started learning a language with any one of Mango’s 39 foreign languages and 16 ESL courses!

The library system promoted Mango Month on their home page, making it easily visible to anyone who visited their site. Also, they displayed a decorated board in the library (written in perfect penmanship, might we add) to make sure the promotion was visible to anyone who came to the library.

Hats off to you, St. Clair Library System – and not just because you also hail from the great state of Michigan (though it definitely doesn’t hurt)!

Has your library ever promoted Mango in a fun, exciting, or unique way? Tell us about it! Either leave a comment on the blog or contact your account manager. Not only will you be helping others promote Mango at their library, but who knows? Maybe YOU will be featured in a future blog post or newsletter!

Mango Monday: Do you speak Texan?

Do you speak Texan?
Mangoes traded the snowy Michigan weather for some southern hospitality (and sunshine) while attending ALA Midwinter 2012 in Dallas, Texas!

While we got a little taste of the south, we gave a taste of mango smoothies to stoppers-by at the Mango booth. Attendees could also check out demonstrations of the Mango iPhone app, Little Pim and learn some Hindi!

While we were sporting tie-dye and mango smoothie sugar-buzzes, we saw many wonderful familiar faces, made great new friends and heard inspiring language learning success stories.

We even got a short lesson in “Southern English” from a few true Texans, y’all!

Check out some pictures from our adventure and let us know: did you drop by the Mango Languages booth at ALA Midwinter in Dallas this year? Do you still remember how to say, “where is the bus station” in Hindi?

Travel Tuesday: Bienvenidos a Little Village

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting one of my very best friends Betsy in Chicago, where she recently moved for grad school. Of course it’s always great to visit friends, but discovering the sights and sounds of an unfamiliar place is always my favorite part of travel. And discover we did.

Betsy works with a non-profit organization called Enlace Chicago, which works to improve the quality of life for inhabitants of Little Village, a vibrant Mexican-American neighborhood on the city’s west side. Rich with language and culture (right up my alley, non?), Enlace strives to preserve the tight knit community and eradicate the neighborhood’s pain points through education, violence prevention, cultural enrichment, and economic development. I was lucky enough to be in town for a peace summit this weekend held in conjunction with another organization Ceasefire entitled “What’s Good in the Hood?” It was so awesome to see kids of all ages coming together for a common goal: peace. In addition to ending the violence, the summit also celebrated their Mexican roots. Through music, performances, and (my favorite) food, attendees were able to focus on the positive aspects of Little Village rather than solely on the negative. Because my life revolves around food, I have to mention the amazing homemade spread that greeted us. Authentic Mexican soup called pozole, tamales (red and green), salsa verde, and even a sweet cinnamon rice milk called horchata allowed people to sit down together, eat, and enjoy the atmosphere. No Taco Bell here, folks.

Just walking through the area on the way to the event, it is clear that the neighborhood is something special. From the Mexican markets to the taquerias to simply hearing Spanish spoken everywhere, you almost feel like you are in a village in Mexico. Though it is just a short subway ride away from the heart of Chicago, you are seemingly thousands of miles away. It really was inspiring to see an ethnic community working together to preserve their strong cultural roots in a positive way.

Who says you have to travel far away to indulge in a true cultural experience? Most of us have neighborhoods like Little Village within close proximity to our own homes. Here in Detroit we have Mexican Town, I have visited China Town in Washington, D.C., and Little Italy in New York City is just one of several cultural hubs in the booming metropolis. Don’t have the time or money to take a trip to Mexico? Hop on the subway or jump in your car and escape “America” for a few hours. You won’t be disappointed. And be sure to grab some Mexican candy before you head out! You can thank me later.

Do you have an area like Little Village near you? Tell us about an authentic cultural experience you have had there!

ALA 2011 in The Big Easy

This year the ALA Annual was held at the New Orleans Convention Center, a massive venue.  We quickly realized that a  building 1.2 miles long means a LOT of walking!  This time around, we had a better-than-ever 20′x30′ booth to showcase our product with a nice, well-lit, long smoothie bar.  Our Mango Smoothies were even more desirable for those attendees who completed the journey to our aisle.

Overall, the show was a great success. The focus this year was on the highly anticipated iPhone Application that was made available in the App Store  just hours before the show. As curious potential customers and veteran Mango fans came to our booth we passed out Mango badges, gave personal demonstrations of the unique features that each Mango course has to offer–such as the phonetic pop up, cultural notes, Organic Learning slides, and our Voice Comparison feature.  We made sure that each attendee left educated and Mangofied. Our fans came to our booth raving about Mango, and we couldn’t pass that opportunity up without getting some incredible video testimonials. We truly have the best fans!

This year the Mango VIP after party took place at The Rusty Nail on Constance Street in New Orleans. This year’s party topped all the previous ones!  With the Mango drinks flowing, the open patio, and the incredible Jazz band, the crowd of roughly 200 guests seemed to have a blast. It was so much fun to see all of our guests participate and meet the Mango staff in our traditional game of Guess that Mango. What made this year’s after-party even more unique was the announcement of Mango Mania’s 2011 winners. Five teams made up of our ultimate fans battled it out through Mango challenges to show their love for Mango and potentially win $2500 toward a Mango subscription and an iPad2 for each teammate. The winner of Mango Mania 2011… (drum roll) … was Team MO (Mango Obsessed)! Their name says it all. The two teammates, Amy and Jessica, gave it their all while completing Mango-specific challenges all the way through New Orleans. Check out their Facebook Fan page to see amazing photos and videos of their Mango Mania journey. Congratulations Team MO!

We would like to thank everyone who has made this weekend in the Big Easy amazing!

We can’t wait to see you all again at ALA Midwinter 2012 in Dallas!

Follow and Support the Mango Mania Teams

Mango Mania is in full throttle. Mango Mania is a road rally where teams will complete Mango-related challenges on their way to New Orleans for ALA 2011. The teams have two groups of challenges: those designed to be completed before ALA, and those that they will have to do on the way to New Orleans and while actually there. Each team should post pictures/videos on their Facebook page to show that the challenge has been completed. Each challenge is judged on creativity and completion.

Here are some of the challenges they have to do before ALA:

-Find 5 patrons who will either give a Mango testimonial or say something they learned from a Mango course.  Share video.

-Create a work of art using items found in your public library. Share pic/video.

-Record a video of you giving a Mango demo to patron(s) while making it interactive.

-Visit another Mango Library (Library with Mango subscription) and bring them a homemade gift. Share pic/video.

Also, through Mango Mania teams have Bonus activities to choose from:

-Represent Mango as much as possible by getting Mangofied in as many challenges as possible: i.e., decorating your Mango shirts, face paint, etc.

-Race to get to the Mango Booth and toast with Mango smoothies in a foreign language.

-Team with most social media activity. We will monitor/count number of teams’ retweets and other people tweeting with your team’s hashtag. Also, number of fans  on your Facebook page as well as  comments from your fans.

-Get a person/representative from another language learning company to say “mango” in some way.  Share video.

-Get a story about “Mango Mania” and your experience published in a credible news outlet, like a local newspaper. Share link.

The Mango Mania teams have been so awesome and creative while showing their true Mango colors! Follow your favorite teams on Facebook and Twitter! (Remember they get judged on how many people “like” their Facebook fan page and how many people follow them on twitter). Here are the teams:

Team MO (Mango Obsessed) #goteammo

Team Mang(eauxs) #TeamMangeaux

Team Energy = Mango C2 #EMC2

Team ALA Think Tank #alatt

Team Fluent Five #FluentFive

The winning team will be announced at Mango’s VIP Party on Sunday June 26th at the Rusty Nail. The grand prize is a $2,500 Mango subscription for the team to split and an iPad for each team member.

Feeling left out of the fun? If anyone else wants to complete any of these challenges feel free to get creative and post a photo/video on our Facebook fan page. If your pic/video stands out you might receive a Mango prize!

Good luck and have fun!

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?

East Baton Rouge Parish Library Loves Mango!

Emily from East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana loves Mango Languages so much that she even has Mango shoes!

Do you have a Mango Moment to share? Contact:

Yana.Homutetski@mangolanguages.com

Raise a Glass for a Good Cause

Hello Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend!

I know I did. This past Saturday, It’s My Heart -Metro Detroit Chapter,  had their second annual Raise a Glass to CHD Awareness event to raise money for their organization to provide support, education, and advocate for those affected by Acquired and Congenital Heat Defects.

Raise a Glass is a fun, wine tasting and silent auction event that was organized to raise money for this great cause. This year’s event was held at Andiamo in Novi, Michigan.  Mango Languages was a proud sponsor at the event; we donated our Mango Passport Bundle along with a gift bag as an auction item. All attendees got a chance taste and learn about wine from around the world as they bid on auction items that were donated from local companies and businesses. It was awesome to see all the winners excited about the items they had won while supporting this great cause. The lucky winner of the Mango Passport Bundle mentioned how excited he was to finally learn Italian!

The cold and snowy Michigan weather didn’t stop people from coming and enjoying themselves at this great event. Good wine, delicious food, fantastic auction items, amazing people and all around great times!

For more information about this great cause and Raise a Glass, please visit:

http://www.itsmyheart.org/

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??