Learn a Language at the Library

Arrrrr!

I mean, arrrrre you ready for Talk Like a Pirate Day?

September 19, in case you didn’t know, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  This is just one of those little-know-facts that you pick up as a Librarian.  A Librarian, I might add, who has dressed like a pirate on more than one occasion.  Just two years ago, most of the Fairfax Library staff dressed up as pirates for Halloween, and no one could tell which of us was wearing the real eye patch.

Talk Like A Pirate Day is the brainchild of John Baur and Mark Summers, and Sept. 19 was chosen because it was Mark’s ex-wife’s birthday, which somehow seems appropriately piratical.  After Dave Barry, author, syndicated columnist and very funny guy wrote about the potential of such a holiday in 2002, its popularity really took off.  Now there’s a website, a Facebook page, and a newsletter called The Poopdeck.

How, you might ask, does one prepare for Talk Like A Pirate Day?  As it so happens, Marin County Free Library has an amazing language program called Mango that can get you speaking Pirate in a day or two.  Mango offers fun, fast and self-directed language instruction in a variety of languages, and focuses on everyday conversation skills.  For example, In addition to Pirate, you could learn such mundane languages as French, German, Italian, Japanese, Gaelic, Spanish, or Russian.  It even includes English instruction for Spanish speakers.

The only treasure map you need to find Mango is your Marin County Free Library card.  Go to www.marinlibrary.org and search the site for Mango.  Pretty soon you’ll be saying “avast me hearties” (and knowing what it means) like you’ve been speaking Pirate all your life. 

If you’ve got tiny buccaneers at home, the library has a boatload of great stories about pirates, including How I Became a Pirate, by Melinda Long, Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi, and Edward and the Pirates written and illustrated by David McPhail. 

 And don’t miss Dave Barry’s own fast-paced swashbuckling series of pirate adventures, Peter and the Starcatchers, co-authored with Ridley Pearson.  It’s sure to shiver yer timbers and hoist yer petards.