Mango Languages

Learn Spanish to experience a country in a whole different way in Journey Three

Warren and Betsy Talbot of marriedwithluggage.com applied what they were learning in Spanish with Mango during their first stop on their amazing trip around the world: Ecuador.

In his own words, Warren Talbot describes their Journey learning Spanish in Ecuador and interacting with locals:

“We started our trip in northern Ecuador, just outside of Otavalo. This area does see a fair amount of tourists for their huge and diverse Saturday market, but the vast majority of people speak no English. This turned out to be the perfect scenario to start to learn a language.

Our first of many funny experiences occurred when we headed into the local food market for breakfast. We were clearly the only foreigners, and from the looks of it, it appeared like we were the only outsiders to enter this area in some time. We sat down at a stall and decided to order desayuno (breakfast). We started in with the limited Spanish we had learned in our first 2 weeks with Mango Languages, accompanied by as many smiles as we could fit into the request. The woman was delighted that we were trying, though she clearly had no idea what we wanted. Through a series of pointing and finger gestures we were able to order the best empanadas we have had on this trip and some wonderful sweet coffee.

That one experience began a 6 month immersion into Spanish that we absolutely loved. We found that people were always friendlier when we tried to speak Spanish, even if we did it wrong.

A couple of months into our trip we arrived in Baños, Ecuador, a place famous for living in the shadow of a live volcano and for having plenty of hot springs as a result. By this time we were more comfortable with our Spanish and during a hike one morning we stopped at a remote guesthouse for coffee. There were no other guests, and the elderly owners showed us around their beautiful gardens, pointing out plant and animal life and telling us about past eruptions of the volcano. Had we not learned some Spanish, we would have never had this very special memory.

As we neared the end of our time in Ecuador we discovered one of our friends from Otavalo was leading a tour in Cuenca and would have a few hours free to see us. His wife was bilingual and always paved the way for any misunderstandings, and this would be our first time with him alone. He didn’t speak any English. We ended up having a great time together, taking a tour of the city, enjoying a local specialty in a roadside restaurant, and strolling around the main square with ice cream to end the day. We bonded with him like never before because there was no middle man paving the way. And believe us, when you no longer have need of a middle man, you experience a country in a completely different way.

 

Through the last 18 months we’ve had some wonderful interactions with locals as we work to pick up Spanish, Thai, and now Mandarin. From a Spanish-only 4-day trek in Peru, to chatting with monks in a temple in Thailand, and recently to eating with a family in China our ability to communicate, even in a small way, opens people’s hearts (and sometimes homes) to us.

For us, learning a language serves many practical purposes on this adventure: getting directions, buying groceries, asking for help on public transportation, finding the restroom. At one point we got sick and needed to see a doctor. We were able to find out where the doctor’s office was, tell him our symptoms and even engage in a bit of small talk about our travels, and go to the lab and pharmacy. Knowing some language when you travel in a country gives you comfort that you can handle most things that come your way, expected and unexpected.

However, the true benefit to learn a language is the opportunity to communicate and learn from people in a completely different culture. Even if it is just a few words in the local language, people will smile and light up your day. New experiences and opportunities will appear that you never thought possible. Inevitably you will engage in a discussion and learn something new about a person, a place, or a culture all by being able to share a common language. It does not require you to be fluent, but merely be willing to start learning. Most importantly you must be curious, as curiosity leads to the greatest discoveries.”

What inspiring stories would you like to bring back from an adventure like Warren’s? Tell us what kind of Journey you would take with more advanced content from Mango Languages and you could win a Mango Passport bundle containing Mango Passport Journeys One, Two and Three!

Learn Spanish, 20% off for Cinco de Mayo

Muchas conversations for less dinero.

Heading to a Cinco de Mayo fiesta this weekend? Brush up on your Spanish and impress your amigos with your authentic accent. Olé!

Learn Spanish before your fiesta with 20% off of Mango Passport Spanish. Click here to get started and use the discount code, “CincoMangos” at checkout.

How will YOU be celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

Mango Languages User Review

Check out Betsy and Warren Talbot and how they are using Mango Languages in Ecuador to learn Spanish…so cool!  We love user testimonials – especially videos!

10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Spanish

Spanish has become very important to the U.S. and our culture.  Did you know?  More than 1.4 million university students were enrolled in language courses in autumn of 2002, and Spanish is the most widely-taught language in American colleges and universities.  Of all students enrolled in a foreign language course, 53 percent study Spanish, followed by French (14.4%), German (7.1%), Italian (4.5%), American Sign language (4.3%), Japanese (3.7%), and Chinese (2.4%).  The totals, however, remain relatively small relative to the size of the total U.S population.

Here are 10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Spanish:

1. Spanish is the second most-common language in the United States after English.
2. There are more Spanish speakers in the U.S. than there are speakers of Chinese, French, Hawaiian, and the Native American languages combined.
3. According to the 2007 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by over 34 million people aged 5 or older.
4. There are also 45 million Hispanics who speak Spanish as a first or second language.
5. There are 6 million Spanish-speaking students of all ages
6. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking community, only after Mexico and ahead of Spain, Colombia, and Argentina.
7. Roughly half of all U.S. Spanish speakers also speak English “very well,” based on the self-assessment Census question respondents.
8. In total, there were 34,547,077 people in the United States who speak Spanish as their primary language at home, including 3.5 million in the territory of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the primary language.
9. Over half of the country’s Spanish-speakers reside in California, Texas, and Florida alone.
10. Spanish is the most widely-taught, non-English language in U.S. secondary schools and of higher education, thus establishing its importance to non-Hispanic Americans.

Source: Wikipedia

Learn Spanish

Spanish is the native language of 339 million people in the world. In addition to Spain, Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In addition, it is widely spoken in several other nations, including Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, and the United States.

Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers. Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. While all Spanish dialects use the same written standard, there are important variations spoken among the regions of Spain and throughout Spanish-speaking America. One major phonological difference between Castilian, broadly speaking, the dialects spoken in northern Spain, and the dialects of southern Spain and all the Latin American dialects of Spanish, is the absence of a voiceless dental fricative (/θ/ as in English thing) in the latter.

Spanish is one of the Romance languages in the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European language family, and within Spain, and has two major dialects: Andalusian and Castilian. Many other dialects exist in other geographical areas, namely North and South America. Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.

Two Year Anniversary

Mango Languages Two Year Anniversary

On August 31, 2009 Mango turned two years old. While we have been developing technologies and distributing language learning programs for over 8 years – the evolution of Mango over the last two years has been tremendous.

We began the Mango journey by researching and looking at the science of second language acquisition. We knew and learned foreign languages ourselves, all before the concept of Mango was even born. We believe that creating an online language resource had to have the best teaching and educational foundation to be successful. By using the best linguists and extensive language learning theory, the content for Mango Languages emerged.

We fully understood that the technology behind the product was and is critical for the user to have the best “language learning experience.” We didn’t want users to have to be computer science majors to interface with our software. We created a program that is simply point and click. No need to go through numerous screens or get lost in our software.

Lastly, there was no doubt that our program had to be fun. We wanted people to enjoy learning a new language. To learn English (ESL), Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin-Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian-Portuguese, Greek, or Polish can be a daunting and overwhelming idea. We wanted to help people learn without even knowing that they were learning vocabulary, grammar and conjugation. We created a system to help people enjoy the experience and before they knew it they would be speaking and conversing in a foreign language.

All of this work came with countless hours at the office, lots of growing pains, new offices and an outstanding staff of foreign language linguists, technology folks, sales super stars, integration specialists, accounting geniuses, marketing mavens, intern extraordinaires and good old fashion hard work.

We want to make sure to thank all of our clients and users. Without you, we would not be having the time of our lives! We are humbled and honored to work with you!