Mango Languages

Mango’s language requirement is what makes us Mango

This blog comes to us from Robbie Linden, a recent addition to our Marketing team at Mango as a Marketing Intern. We are happy to welcome Robbie, not only to Mango, but also to our Mango Languages Blog! Enjoy and look out for more future posts from him.
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Three weeks ago, I began my marketing internship with Mango Languages.  Since then, I have worked hard to learn the tricks of the trade, so to speak.  With any new job comes a new set of expectations, responsibilities, and policies and my internship is no exception.  Though a new parking spot or software program at work is always something to think about, one specific policy at Mango takes a lot of getting used to:  All employees are required to devote an hour and a half each week to learning a new language.

When I first heard of this policy I was bit surprised.  Even though I was excited to learn from Mango for the sake of marketing the product, I thought this requirement might be too much to ask.  Learning a second language seemed like one of those things that requires a huge amount of will power and is a tough thing to ask someone to do by way of a company policy.

Within days of learning of this policy I was proven wrong.  Once I got used to my new work environment, I began to observe some office behaviors from my desk.  I heard people speaking to each other in a multitude of foreign languages and saw their wide grins as they did so.  It was this that helped me understand Mango’s second language policy.  Knowledge of a second language is not merely an asset at Mango Languages, but a way of life.  As a company whose goal is to teach a second language to as many people as possible, it is of the utmost importance that we apply that goal within the company as well as across the globe.  I have come to recognize and respect the fact that the diverse work environment is really what separates Mango.

As far as my studies go, I have enjoyed learning a foreign language through Mango.  I decided to freshen up on my Hebrew, which I have not practiced for 4 years or so now.  Even though I am not a beginner, I have picked up some conversational Hebrew in my first few lessons of Mango that I was stunned I never encountered in my previous years of study.  For example, I never knew that the greeting “שלומך מה” or “how are you” (literally translated as what is your peace) could be reconfigured to mean “I am good” or “Are you good”.  I am looking forward to getting more comfortable with the language and being more conversationally fluent.

I will continue to blog about Mango’s language requirement as I continue my internship and get more used to my work environment.  Hopefully, I can even get some of my coworkers’ opinions on the subject.  Be sure to share your own feelings or personal experience with language requirements in the workplace through Mango’s Facebook or Twitter!

Shanah Tovah! (Happy New Year)

Today, at sunset begins the Jewish New Year called ראש השנה (Rosh Hashana), literally meaning the “Head of the Year.”  On the Hebrew calendar, this will be the first day of the year 5772.

Rosh Hashanah symbolizes a time of reflection called the aseret yamei teshuva, ten days of penitence. Jews believe that while they can find forgiveness for sins committed against the Boss,  it is left to them to seek out and apologize to people they feel they have wronged in the previous year. The aseret yamei teshuva end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Many Jews go to Synagogues for Rosh Hashanah, asking  for forgiveness and pray to be inscribed in the “Book of Life” for a sweet and healthy New Year.

The most famous symbol of the holiday, the Shofar, is sounded in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah, and is critical to the obligations on Rosh Hashanah. The Shofar is  fashioned from a ram’s horn. Yonah Bookstein, from the Washington Post, says, “The blasts of the Shofar are likened both to the wordless cries of the humanity speaking to God and a wake-up call to the soul which transcends rational explanation.”

“Some  other cherished customs include: dipping challah and apples into honey and eating honey cake to symbolize our wish for a sweet new year; consuming  huge meals with too many courses, calories, and cousins; tossing bread crumbs into living waters during a ceremony called ‘Tashlich‘ to symbolically cast away our sins; and renewing synagogue memberships.” Rosh Hashanah brings the whole family together to celebrate the New Year.

A typical greeting is שנה טובה (shaNAH toVAH) meaning “Happy New Year.”  Shana means “year” and tovah means “good.”  Another common greeting is שנה טובה ומתוקה (shaNAH toVAH ve metooKAH) meaning “Happy and Sweet New Year.”  Metookah means “sweet.”

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and sweet New Year! Shanah Tovah!

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The First Day of Hanukkah

Thursday marks the first day of Hanukkah this year, which occurs any time from late November to early December on the Gregorian calendar (the 25^th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar). Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days, starting at sunset the night before the first day – that’s tonight.

The word Hanukkah comes from the Hebrew word for “dedication” or “consecration”. This holiday marks the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in around 162 BCE. It is said that there was only enough oil to burn the flame inside of the temple for one day, however it lasted for eight- hence, eight candles to be lit.

Today, Hanukkah is celebrated both communally and just with family. Although it is still ok to work, many people like to head home a bit earlier to make sure they can light their candles at nightfall. There are also some traditional foods eaten around this time, depending on regions and ethnicity. Many are fried or baked in oil, like latkes (potato pancakes) and pontshkes (jam filled doughnuts).

We have a few people who work in the office celebrating Hanukkah this year. Do you know anyone celebrating the holiday this year?

Passover: Hebrews of the World, Eat Up!

Many believe that Hannukah is the Jewish parallel of Christmas, but the
real festive event of the Jewish calendar–when families unite,
children get the best presents, and grown-ups are going mental over
preparations–is Passover.  The Passover is celebrated in memory of the
biblical Exodus, when the Israelites were saved from a life of slavery
in Egypt.  In the days of the ancient Jewish kingdom this holiday was
merged with agricultural spring festivities.  One of the reasons that the
Passover has become so important is that it commemorates the key event
in the birth of the Jewish nation.

The ancient and complex traditions of Passover, combined with the modern
way of life, creates interesting holiday customs.  Many know that Jews
are not allowed to eat leavened bread during the week of Passover and
that they have to opt for matzos instead.  It is a little known fact that
in order to fill the commandment instructing Jews to look for leavened
products and take it away before the holiday, some housewives hide small
sacks with breadcrumbs around the house and let their husband look for
them, carrying a traditional candle.  The Seder gathering itself, which
is the main Passover event, is conducted after everybody is ridiculously
tired because of cleaning, cooking, preparing or long distance
traveling.  It begins with a long reading and singing of the Haggadah, a
compilation of ancient texts about Passover, around the dinner table–
the family members are taking turns reading it–and it ends with a
mammoth-sized traditional dinner.  One ornamented silver cup is filled
with sweet wine and left on the table for the prophet Elijah, who should
come when everyone’s asleep (through the traditionally open front door)
and take a sip.

The children get a special treats during the Seder. They are supposed to
find a specific matzo, called the Afikoman, which was hidden away, steal
it carefully, and negotiate with the head of the family for its return
in exchange for a generous present.  My memories as a child from the
Passover Seder include haggling with my grandfather, who was a vicious
negotiator, over the gifts I wanted and losing miserably; my uncles and
aunties fight each other passionately and bitterly, and my grandmother
trying to make peace; singing all the songs; my father telling the same
jokes he tells every year; the great food, including squeezed grape
juice, Gefilte Fish with horseradish, roast beef with potatoes,
eggplants in tomato sauce; and Elijah’s cup in the next morning,
standing on the table half empty.

My uncle told us years later that it was him, sneaking in the middle of
the night and drinking Elijah’s wine, but all the other uncles and aunts
agree that he is a well-known liar and no-one should believe a word he
says.

Right to Left Languages

There are many languages that are written in a completely different direction than English.  Actually, the script is what decides directionality.

This can cause lots of confusion when learning a language.  When entering text, most of our computers won’t allow for changing text directions unless you create special settings.

Some examples of Right to Left Languages include:

1. Arabic
2. Hebrew
3. Farsi
4. Pashto
5. Urdu

Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are also challenging as they can be written either way depending on usage.

When learning a new language, be sure that you understand which direction the language should be written.

What other languages have interesting direction issues?

10 Common Mistakes When Learning Hebrew

1. In Hebrew the adjective follows the noun, e.g. “city big.”  English speakers tend to put the noun after the adjective according to the English word order, e.g. “big city.”
2. Hebrew nouns, adjectives, and verbs have a designated gender (either female or male).  For example, “television” is feminine while “radio” is masculine. English speakers tend to mix up the genders.
3. Hebrew nouns, adjective, and verbs have to match in number and gender. Let’s take, for example, “a good pizza.” Since “pizza” is feminine, the adjective “good” should be feminine as well. English speakers have the tendency to forget this rule and do not match adjective, nouns, and verbs in number and gender.
4. In Hebrew there are two sets of numbers, feminine and masculine, which are used based on the noun that is being counted. For example, in the phrase “10 boys” the number ten is pronounced and written differently than in the phrase “10 girls.” English speakers easily confuse the two sets of numbers.
5. In Hebrew, the definite article is used both before the noun and before the adjective, e.g. “the cake the sweet.” English speakers tend to use the definite article only once as it is in English, “the sweet cake.”
6. The right use of prepositions is a source of frustration for English speakers. For example, in Hebrew we say “I spoke in the phone” and not “I spoke on the phone” as in English.
7. In Hebrew there are several guttural letters that English speakers have a hard time pronouncing and usually pronounce incorrectly. These guttural letters are “Cheit,” “Chaf,” and “Reish.” “Cheit” sounds like the German or Scottish “ch” but more guttural. “Reish” is pronounced like the French or German “r” or the Italian or Spanish “r” but usually harder.
8. Hebrew does not use “is,”  “are,” “do,” and “does,” which really confuses English speakers.  English speakers tend to make grammatical mistakes as they try to find alternative expressions.
9. Hebrew verbs have different forms. Each verb is conjugated by gender, tense, and number, which means we have to learn 12 different forms of each verb. This is a hard concept for English speakers to master.  In English verbs are conjugated by tense, not by gender or number.
10. A common pronunciation mistake is when English words are used in Hebrew. For example: “television” is pronounced “televizia,” “university” is pronounced “universita,” etc.