Mango Languages

Throw a Mango Social.

Looking for a great way to attract new patrons and spread the word about your digital resources?  Consider hosting a Mango Day!  Not only is it a ton of fun for staff and patrons alike, it’s also great opportunity for your library to earn checklist points to redeem for swag through the MAP.

Every Mango Day is unique.  Some of our partner libraries focus on a community initiative, like ESL literacy or the benefits of a second language, others center their party around a particular holiday or event, like Chinese New Year, Carnival, or Back-to-School time.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Give away goodies: Mango promotional items make for happy patrons.  Ask your rep about the items we have available.
• Chow down: Mango-flavored treats, like smoothies, go a long way.
• Focus on ESL: Invite patrons to study groups where they can gather to practice English together with Mango.
• Host a meet-up: The library is a great place for learners of a particular language to congregate and practice.  And what better meeting place than one chock-full of language-learning resources?
• Show how it’s done: schedule a live demo to give patrons a taste of Mango in action!  If you need a refresher course beforehand, sign up for our Mango 101 training webinar.

Want even more ideas?  Check out this Pinterest board with examples from other libraries.  And don’t forget to email your Mango Rep photos from your Mango Day to be featured on Pinterest!

English is weird.

As native speakers, there are so many nuances to the English language that we don’t even realize.  Things like the graphic below give me an even greater respect for ESL learners.


What’s the weirdest thing you can think of about the English language? If you’re an ESL learner, what has been your biggest challenge?

Learning ESL: Who Knew “Knife” had a “K”?

As someone whose first or second language was not English, I decided to focus on the most widely-spoken language in the world and the difficulties I had while learning it.

It’s true what they say: kids are like sponges, they soak up all kinds of information rather quickly. This is also true for languages. You place a child in a new environment and they will pick up the culture, slang, pronunciation, etc., in a timely manner. I know this because I was one of those kids. My family and I moved to the United States when I was nine years old, and besides it being the land of McDonald’s and the phrase “I’ll be back,” which I learned from watching American movies starring fellow European native Arnold Schwartzeneggar, I didn’t know anything about the American culture or the English language.

Fast forward nine months later when I tested out of my ESL classroom to a regular 4th grade class. I had American friends, I knew the cool 90′s slang, I felt like I fit in. By that time, most people wouldn’t even be able to tell that I was not a native speaker. However, I still had (and still do have) many questions about the English language.  Fifteen years later after learning four languages, I still believe English is an interesting and at times difficult language to learn.

Examples:

-English has the weirdest spelling. Who knew that knife had a “k”? I didn’t (lost a spelling bee because of this, still bitter). What’s up with the random “g” or “gh” in words such as foreigner or night?

-There, their, and they’re, all have different meanings but sound the same. Enough said.

-I use to avoid telling people what I did in the past because it was much easier to stick to the present. Go becomes went; eat becomes ate, and depending on the subject, eaten; teach becomes taught; and so on and so forth. You realize pretty quickly that you can develop incredible memorization skills.

-Learning English in America doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to understand what is being said to you in Australia, England, or New Zealand.

Earlier last week I came across an article, 10 Reasons Why English Is a Hard Language, and absolutely loved reading all the things that I struggled with as an ESL learner. The article actually goes in depth about the difficulties of learning English but also explains the reasoning behind some of the wacky rules of English. I was very glad to find out that I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Very informative. Click here for the full article.

This is all to say that learning ANY language is tough, including English. Each language has it’s own rules, forms, pronunciation, and culture behind it. But no matter how confusing it gets, you still learn a lot along the way and it’s a wonderful feeling when you can communicate with others in your new language.

What are some interesting facts/rules about other languages you have studied/learned?

Is Cheese plural for Choose?

Hello All,
As an individual whose first language isn’t English, I thought I would take this opportunity and use this blog to express how funny (and at times hard) the English language can be. I am sure that other people who learned English as a second or even third language would agree with me.

I was very happy to come across the list below which includes words and phrases that have made me scratch my head in confusion on numerous occasions. I have been speaking English for 14 years, and to this day I come across sayings that just don’ t seem to make sense. If I learned anything, it’s that sometimes you just need to just accept things just the way they are… especially when it comes words and phrases in the English language.

Here are some examples…  you tell me…

There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in  pineapple…
Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which  aren’t sweet, are meat.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth,  beeth?
One goose, 2 geese.  So, one moose, 2 meese?
One index, two indices?
When a house burns up, it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France

How can ‘slim chance and fat chance’ be the same, while ‘wise man and a wise guy’ are opposites?

We take English for granted.  But if we  explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly,  boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

Personally, I’ve had a really hard time understanding why the word knife is spelled with a ‘k’. That’s just me.

Ghoti Spells Fish

How many of you remember your parents or siblings drilling you for the upcoming spelling bee when you were in grade school? R-E-A-D spells “read.”  I like to read.  But wait, R-E-A-D also spells “read,” as in, “I read a good book yesterday.”  English is a funny language when it comes to spelling and the correspondence between letters and sounds.   This is partially because the English language has held on to much of its Old English orthography.  This is a benefit when reading somewhat old historical texts. But, it’s not so great when it comes to teaching spelling, reading, and writing. I’m sure many ESL and elementary school students would agree. Indeed many native adult English speakers, including yours truly, still struggle with spelling.  Isn’t that why they invented spell check?

So take a look at this: G-H-O-T-I spells “fish.”  You may think I need to go back to the 1^st grade, but what if told you the letters ‘gh’ make the [f] sound? Still think I’m crazy?  What about the ‘gh’ in the words enough and rough?  The –o in “women” makes the same sound as the letter –i in “fish.”  And finally, “Nation” and “station” both have the ‘ti’ combo that sounds like /sh/. So, there you have it.  G-H-O-T-I spells fish!

Do you know of any other examples of fun things like this?