Mango Languages

Meet Our Newest Mango, Emily!

How did you hear about Mango Languages? I heard about Mango Languages through a job posting that my uncle forwarded to me.  This led me to check out the Mango Languages website, where I applied for the position of Spanish Language Developer.  Then when Alan mentioned the possibility of the position of Project Linguist I got really excited because I could work as a linguist in the private sector.

What is your official title here at Mango Languages?/What is your job description? My official title at Mango Languages is “Project Linguist.” As a Project Linguist I do lots of awesome things, including waxing philosophical about syntactic theory, considering morphophonological implications in SLA research, puzzling over case assignment in zero-copula sentences in Arabic, and of course ensuring the highest quality content for all of the Mango Languages courses.   I think that its really cool that my job title has “linguist” in it since I have not only a B.A. but also an M.A. in linguistics.  What’s even cooler is that most people with degrees like mine in the private sector rarely get to do the job of a linguist while keeping the title.

Where did you work/study before coming to Mango? Before coming to Mango, I studied at Michigan State University and the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.  When I was working on my M.A. I worked for MSU as the director of the Spanish Writing Center and my second year as a Spanish Instructor.

I speak Spanish and Catalán (Mallorquín) fluently. I started learning Spanish at a young age, and I learned Mallorquín when I lived in Mallorca for 2 1/2 years.  At first I wasn’t too happy about having to learn it because it was forced upon me. Basically, if you go to the public university in the Balearic Islands you have to take half of your classes in Catalán (this is commonly known as a language-maintenance strategy).  Later on after I got the hang of it I really started to appreciate the language and the sense of belonging that it afforded me (yup, when you learn this language you become one of the “cool kids”… something that I never was in high school).  I also speak some French, which I learned partially when I was living and Spain and then later on when I lived in Paris.

What do you love the most about Mango Languages? My favorite thing about Mango is the company culture and its general “openess.”  I feel like everyone is accepted for who they are, and we’re all equals. The positive reinforcement and its means of recognition (the Big Deal Bell, The Gong, the Little Deal Bell) is also really impressive. Also, we get to listen to music and I get to decorate my cubicle. Plus the fiestas, you can’t forget those.

Do you like to travel? If so, what was your best trip? I love love love loooooove traveling.  I have had two best trips: one that I took to Costa Rica in March right after I finished my Comprehensive Exams for my M.A. and one that I took to Greece in March of 2007.  Both trips involved lots of eating and sitting on beaches.

Welcome to the Mango Team Emily!

Coming Soon: A New Mango Website!

We are so excited to announce the launch of our new website. We have been busy working to improve  our existing website www.mangolanguages.com and have added all sorts of cool features to make it as fun and informative as possible. Our new website will launch with a new, more interactive interface.  It will be the place to find everything you need to know about Mango Languages!

The new site has been customized for each of the markets that we’re serving. You can look forward to getting more of information about our languages, products, customer service, FAQ’s, testimonials, and so much more. You can also learn about the elves that work here at Mango Languages. We basically live and breathe language learning around here, but we make sure to have fun doing it. You’ll have a chance to dive into the Mango Culture through videos about the unique people that are behind the creation and production of  the Mango Courses.

Ultimately we wanted to provide a website that allows everyone to see what we’re all about. Not only what and who Mango is, but how and why it works so well. You’ll be able to meet the owners and see what has inspired them to come up with what Mango Languages is today.

We’re very excited about this and hope you enjoy the new site. It’s coming in the next few weeks!

Apples to Apples: Fall Culture

On this crisp Fall Friday, I couldn’t help but get excited for some of my weekend plans. What are my plans? I’m glad you asked. This weekend I plan on making my annual outing to the Franklin Cider Mill here in Michigan. There is nothing that I associate Fall more with than the Cider Mill. The hot apple cider, the greasy paper bags full of hot donuts, caramel apples, glazed pecans, candy corn; the variety of feelgood deliciousness is the epitome of Fall around here.

This got me thinking about the Fall culture, and why going to the Cider Mill comes to mind when thinking about Fall. Apples; they are the driving force behind everything that the Cider Mill is now today. For hundreds of years, apples have been supplying a delicious and nutritious fruit allover the world. Johnny Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed brought from Europe a small variety of apples. Farmers allover the United States took these varieties and combined two or more apples and named them what they thought appropriate. Years ago Europe had as many as 350 different varieties. Today there are as many as 7000 different varieties throughout the United States. Approximately 20 varieties of apples are used for marketing purposes.

Going to the Cider Mill is an event. Families and friends stand in line while catching up on community news, children play by the stream near the Mill while feeding ducks, and other sit at picnic tables enjoying the Fall goodies they just bought. One can smell the donuts from about a mile away. It’s almost impossible to only have one donut, if you have hot cider nearby you might as well buy at least a half dozen donuts. Better safe than sorry

How do you celebrate Fall Culture?

Here at Mango, We Love our Coffee!

While working here at Mango Languages I have learned over time that many of the Mangoes are big coffee lovers. I was elated to find this out, since I myself am very fond of this warm, caffeinated, and delicious beverage. It all started with the gathering of Mangoes by the industrial coffee maker to pour themselves a cup o’joe throughout the day.  Then once we moved to our new office I was greeted by a 12-cup Mr. Coffee every morning along with a collection of sweeteners and creamers. Later I started seeing the variety of ground coffee brands along with a french press here and there.  I have decided to dedicate this Monday’s blog to coffee, after all more than 1400 millions cups of coffee are drunk every day worldwide.

Really Fun Facts About Coffee:

-Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee

-70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drinks Robusta, which is more bitter-tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica.

-Coffee grows on trees

-The bean is actually a seed inside of a bright red berry

-Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth, after oil.

-The term “Americano” comes from America GIs during WWII. They would order espresso with water to dilute the strong flavor.

-The term “cup of joe” comes from American servicemen (GI Joes) in WWII being seen as big coffee drinkers.

-Brazil produces around 40% of the world’s coffee supply.

-October 1^st is official “Coffee Day” in Japan

-65 countries in the world grow coffee. They are all along the equator, within the tropics.

-It takes 40 coffee beans to make an espresso

-A coffee tree lives for between 60 and 70 years.

Who knew!

Ready to become a coffee expert? Follow this chart and you’ll be ordering grande, extra hot, non-fat, triple lattes with extra foam in no time.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee

What do YOU love about coffee?

Moving the Mango Orchard

Mango Languages is happy to announce that we are moving our office! With all the new additions to our staff as of late, it has become more and more necessary to accommodate additional desk space, work areas, and even extra rooms to compensate for our growing promotional item requests.

The new office will be only about a mile away from where we are located at the moment, but it’s still a great deal of work getting everything into the new building. With the space still under construction, the move-in day has been set during the week of ALA’s Annual Conference, so we’re all packing our desks into boxes before leaving for the show. Everyone is taking bets on who will show up at the wrong office when we all return!

Our new shipping address:

30445 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 300

Farmington Hills, MI  48334

Have you ever worked in an office that you felt needed to be a bit bigger?  Do you think it affects how well you work?