Mango Languages

Lost in Traslation – Language and Culture

Hello Everyone!

I came across a really interesting article, Lost in Traslation in the Wall Street Journal, about the influence that foreign languages have on how people see the world . The author uses a few languages as examples to show that people express themselves differently when talking about the same thing because of the structure of the language. This brings up questions about the definition of “meaning.” Does the meaning change due to the language you use?

In the article the author, Lera Boroditsky, quotes Emperor of the Romans, Charlemagne, saying that “to have a second language is to have a second soul.” This is a very deep and intricate thought. While reading this article, as a person who speaks more than one language, I realized that even though speaking different languages comes naturally to me, the make up of each language has its own structure, which in turn creates a unique approach to the way a person will use it to express their thoughts.

In any language that you are fluent in you can easily put together greetings, complete sentences, questions, etc. But when comparing these in different languages you see that the structure is not the same. For example, in the article it mentions that in Pormpuraaw, a remote Aboriginal community in Australia, to say hello, one actually say, “Where are you going?” If you don’t know that they don’t even use terms like “left” or “right” you would have a very hard time responding to the greeting. This particular community uses a different approach for greetings than English speakers do.

The article continues, with a focus on space, time, and gender when comparing different languages. The author goes to say, “the structures that exist in our language profundity shape how we construct reality, and helps make us as smart and sophisticated as we are.” I couldn’t help and connect this to our understanding of culture. The world we live in is so diverse with so much to offer in cultural learning, what makes them all so different? To me, it’s languages, the way we express ourselves. In some languages gender is a major part of being able to communicate in other it is the idea of space and time, this all plays a major role in how people think in those languages, which in turn establishes that unique culture.

“Do English, Indonesian, Russian and Turkish speakers end up attending to, understanding, and remembering their experiences differently simply because they speak different languages?”

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the author?

Happy Kwanzaa

A lot of people know the religious and commercial aspects of Christmas but there is another holiday that is very important. It is observed for seven days from December 26th-January 1st. Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration held in the United States honoring universal African-American heritage and culture and began in 1966.

The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning first fruits of the harvest. And according to wikipedia celebrates “African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzu Saba, the “seven principles of blackness” which Karenga said “is a communitarian African philosophy”.

Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

* Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
* Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
* Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve them together.
* Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
* Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
* Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
* Imani (Faith): To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Do you celebrate Kwanzaa? Please share a picture or one of your traditions with us!

Video: Mango Languages, Where is? Webisode 7

We have lots of meetings at Mango Languages…and some Mangoes are notorious for missing them.

Check out the elusive Mangoes here!

Video: Mango Languages Juicing Episode 6

Mangoes are pretty healthy and many of the Mango employees are too. A few really love to juice fruits and vegetables and boy do they make a mess.

Do you juice?

Asheville International Children’s Film Festival

Here’s something for all of you movie enthusiasts out there. The Asheville International Children’s Film Festival is held in North Carolina and features over 100 films from over 30 countries.

Aimed for anyone ages 3 and up, the festival aims to provide culturally diverse cinema to promote intelligent discourse and critical thinking later in life. Festival events include an opening night gala, a pancake breakfast, workshops, and school field trip film experiences.

If you’d like to check out what films are being shown, click here.

Do you think that film is a good medium for promoting the importance of culture?

Video: Mango Languages Webisode 5…Office Fashion

Each office has their own best dressed folks, and we have a few people who really rock their clothes. Check out this video to see who is best dressed at the Mango Languages office.

What do you think?

Video: Mango Languages Idea Incubator – Webisode 4

Innovation is one of our core values, and we have tons of ideas! However, one person, Drew Kelly, thinks he has all the best ideas. The best part is that Drew likes to make fun of himself, too.

Thanks Drew for having fun with us!

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?

Video: Mango Languages: The Gong, Webisode 2

We celebrate every new relationship we make, and we do that with a genuine Chinese Gong.

Check out what the Gong means to us and how uniquely a couple of our sales guys hit it!

Which one did you like better Dave or Marco?

Bring Your Appetite. We're Going to Greece!

The Greek Flag made out of Olives and Feta Cheese

All over Greece you will see and smell fruit-bearing trees: olive trees, dating from ancient times, sweet-smelling orange and lemon trees, juicy peaches, apricot, apple, pear and fig trees, and vines loaded with bunches of grapes. The fields are full of all sorts of vegetables: red, sweet tomatoes; fresh beans and peas; cucumbers; artichokes; aubergines; onions; and fruits like melon and red, delicious watermelon, both a real treat in the heat of the summer.

In the sea hundreds of fish send out silver reflections. Swarms of bees in beehives produce the famous Greek honey. There are forests of walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, oaks, and pines. The pines give us a special ingredient for Greek wine, called retsina, and the pine kernels are also used in several dishes.

Most of the Greek foods are prepared with olive oil. It is the so-called Mediterranean ingredient, famous for being so good for the health. In Greece a main dish can consist of vegetables only cooked so as to offer a wholesome meal. But generally we are fond of meat, and this comes to its apogee during Easter, the great outdoor feast, where whole lambs are specially prepared on the spit, and all the neighbors celebrate together dancing, eating and drinking – a feast strictly not for vegetarians. Even the entrails of the animals are cooked, making the famous kokoretsi. Lambs, goats, and mainly cows give us milk from which we make the famous Greek cheese called feta, a white kind of cheese. Also yogurt, which mixed with crushed garlic, makes a famous dip called tzatziki. Feta cheese, tzatziki dip, aubergine dip, and a dip from fish roe, called taramas, olives and small cheese pies are the dishes served with ouzo, a transparent aperitif, which one could drink as is–but that is not recommended, remember what happened in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

In the northwest part of Greece they make delicious, crunchy pies with filo pastry or dough, with every imaginable ingredient, savory or sweet: pies with spinach, or other herbs, or a mixture of them, with cheese, tomatoes, aubergines, leak, meat, chicken, and also sweet pies, with rice and currants, or pumpkins and custard-filled pies. The list goes on and on…

Greek sweets are very… sweet.  Honey and walnuts are mostly used to make the traditional Greek sweets. These together with filo pastry make baklava, and with dough they make the traditional Christmas sweets, melomakarona.  Another kind of Greek confectionery is the preserves with fruits such as figs, grapes, apricots, sour cherries, plums, quinces, and even roses (the flower!), tomato, the skin of watermelon, the skin of orange and citrus, and whole walnut with its skin, which are cooked in water and sugar and then preserved in jars for the winter. The mild winter cold is fought against with soups made from beans and lentils. Several spices are added to improve the taste of dishes, all used moderately so as not to cover the taste of the meat or any other main ingredient: oregano, mint, garlic, dill, parsley, bay leaves, basil, thyme, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, saffron.  All the dishes are accompanied with wines, sometimes home-made, as well as with retsina.  At the end of the meal you can have coffee, Greek coffee, or frappe. Greek coffee is prepared on low heat until it froths – be careful, you do not have to drink the dregs. Frappe is instant coffee, served especially in the summer, for which you put coffee, sugar, and cold water in a shaker and then add milk and ice cubes. Enjoy it with a straw while watching people passing by.

There are many kinds of eating places in Greece, like restaurants; taverns – for a more informal meal – grill houses; fish taverns; small places where you can have ouzo and starters only; small, usually underground taverns where you can hear live music; but also kebab places, and cafes. There are also places where you can have light meals, usually to go, like pies or sandwiches (two pieces of bread filled with whatever you like), and also fast-food.  The popular Greek fast food chain is called Goodies.

In conclusion, when dealing with Greece and the Greek culture, one should savor the flavor.