Mango Languages

Sicilian and Italian… What's the difference?

Lately, a few of us around the office have been bugging the product development team (jokingly) to come out with a Sicilian course. This begs the question, isn’t Sicilian just a dialect of Italian? It turns out there is actually a good deal of debate over this subject.

Some linguists believe that Sicilian may have actually been the first Romance Language, arising from a vulgar form of Latin spoken by Roman military men and everyday people. It is placed in the Italiano meridionale-estremo group of languages along with the Greek influenced Calabrian dialects of southern Italy, and actually has at least eleven regional dialects of its own.

The Sicilian language has been shaped by many years of foreign influence, occupation, and conquest. Unlike Italian, which is almost entirely Latin based, Sicilian has elements of Greek, Arabic, French, Catalan, and Spanish. This can be seen in many Sicilian words, like “azzizzari” (to embellish, adorn) from the Arabic “aziz” (beautiful), or “foddi” (angry), which can be traced to the Norman French “fol.”

Grammatically, Sicilian is also very different from Italian. For example, all the pronouns for I, he, she, you, and them are different in Sicilian.  Also, take into account that Sicilian does not distinguish between plural endings for verbs, using the same conjugations for masculine and feminine nouns. In Italian, the plural form differs according to gender, and there is much more concern about agreement between nouns and adjoining adjectives.

A great deal of the actual Italian influence on Sicilian has been since 1860, when, during the Italian Unification, Sicily became a part of Italy. More and more, there is risk today that the Sicilian language will eventually die out due to the influx of the Italian language into Sicily, becoming the preferred tongue among the natives. Even Sicilian emigrants, like my own family, speak a brand of the language which is different from what actual native Sicilians speak, simply because the language has changed so much even in the last 50 years.

So what’s the verdict? Have you met anyone who speaks Sicilian? Do you think that it is a language or a dialect?

Learning Italian

Growing up and spending my summers in Sicily did not help me perfect the Italian Language.

Throughout my childhood, I grew up speaking English as my primary language and Sicilian as my secondary language.

It wasn’t until I made my first trip to Rome that I figured out how different the Sicilian dialect is from the standard Italian dialect.  I found out very quickly that I was not able to communicate with the locals.  As a matter of fact people looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to start a conversation.

I realized I had to scrap everything I knew about Sicilian and start from scratch to learn Italian.  Since I started working at Mango Languages a year and a half ago, I began using the Mango Italian program.  Using the program a few days a week, I have been able to perfect my Italian dialect, learn important grammar and cultural notes, speak formally and informally, and above all, I now have the confidence I need to communicate with native Italian speakers.

What foreign language have you always wanted to learn? I would love to hear your story!

"All About Mango" Webinar

Mango Languages is fast, easy, and absolutely the most effective way to learn to speak a foreign language.

Join us for a one hour Webinar to learn more about:

1. Language Learning Trends
2. Mango Methodology
3. Our Product Offerings
4. A Demonstration of the product

Join us February 25th at 2:00 pm EST.

Please register here.

Mango Languages Review by Lifestyler Magazine

We are excited that Lifestyler Magazine took the time to look at our online foreign language learning product.

Check out the review here.

We appreciate their feedback. Let us know what you think.

David Degrandchamp and How Mango Languages Grows on You

Mango Languages Reference Library is now open

We love our customers both LIbraries and their patrons. We especially love what libraries represent – information, knowledge and learning. Most of the staff here at Mango are avid and voracious readers of information and many of our desks were cluttered with books. We took inspiration from the library and decided to start our own company reference library so that we can access and share knowledge with our entire staff.

The Mango Reference Library (MRL) is a collection of business books that are relevant to our industry and the job functions at Mango Languages. The MRL is all about expanding our knowledge base and learning about new and interesting topics. Interested in learning about Web Analytics or social networking? We have a book for you. Wondering what TOEFL stands for and want to learn more about it? We have that for you as well. If you want to learn more about growing your career and hiring talented people? It’s all here!

There is currently a collection of roughly 40 books donated by Mangos (thank you Jason, Beverly and Ryan for letting us raid your office bookshelves). We would like to grow our collection to well over 100 books in the near future. And yes, we offer free language learning to our entire staff!

Thanks to Beverly (marketing) for coming up with this idea, Alan (human resources) for making it happen, Alana (operations) for finding the shelf, and both Leslie and Joe (interns) for constructing the library.

Mongol Rally – A Worthy Charity

Some friends of Mango are journeying across 1/3 of the earth’s terrain to raise money for charity.  They are raising money to support various educational, sanitation, and medical projects throughout the country of Mongolia through Mercy Corps.  The money will also support the building of a new kindergarten in a remote area of the country.  To learn more about their charity please visit their website at http://www.mongolrallyguys.com.  Even the smallest donations are greatly appreciated and will support this worthy cause.