Publisher Description
Waseda University proudly presents "World Englishes," an application designed for smart phones. The English language is widely accepted as a tool for international communication. Today's world has come to a point where about half its population is estimated to be speaking English by the year 2050, and thus, studying English as a global language is essential to all of us. Nevertheless, "English" cannot simply be summed up in a word or two. It varies from country to country, not to mention the much-discussed differences between American English and British English. In fact, communication in English is known to fall apart in some countries due to accent and pronunciation variations. Drawing from a wide-ranging materials used in Waseda's ongoing course entitled "World Englishes and Miscommunications," this application is designed to help you learn certain characteristics unique to English spoken in Asian nations and other parts of the world as well as the cultural background surrounding them. Some of the accents of English provided in this application originate in different parts of a region selected, but they represent the region's standard and stereotypical English. Now, immerse yourself in the world of English that is spoken all around the globe and get a taste of the diversity it has to offer. This application features academic lectures delivered by faculty members from around Asia. For each lecture, the audio recording and the text are presented in sync so that you can take advantage of such functions as the "highlight" display mode or the "fade out" display mode that allow you to perform shadowing or practice listening. Select from the following four options for the text display that best caters to your study style. "Highlight" display mode: changes text colors following the audio recording (as with a Karaoke screen). "Fade Out" display mode: erases the text that has been played. "Fade In" display mode: displays only the text that has been played. Non-text display mode Audio playback speed is selectable from "slow" (0.5 times as fast), "normal", or "fast" (1.5 times as fast). Cueing: This function allows you to tap an English word from which you wish to play the audio recording. Reference display: Swipe the screen to the right to display references related to the lecture. After selecting a country of your choice, tap "Profile" to display the profile of the speaker. World Englishes 2050 World Englishes and Miscommunications 3 Fade Out (0.5 ) (1.5 ) 3 Profile
Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.