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Unit 10
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Unit 10

1 How many computer and the Internet words can your enlist? Do they have equivalents in your native language?

2 When did you get your last email? How often do your check your email box?

3 Do you chat a lot? What for?

4 Can you guess what the word ‘weblish’ might mean?

5 Read the text.

Welcome to Weblish!

New technology always brings changes and new additions to the language, but the telecommunications revolution of the last years has caused some of the most rapid and widespread changes yet seen.

New words are entering the language all the time to put a name to concepts that have never existed before, and existing words  are  being  used  in  a new way. For example the word access   and   text,   previously  used only as nouns,  are now commonly used as verbs in phrases such as     to access the Internet and to text someone. Other words,   such as   chat, which used to mean “casual verbal communication’ but now means ‘live email communication’, have taken on entire new meanings.

In  addition,  many  of  these  English  words-  the  most obvious being  computer  itself-  have spread  outside  of  the English-speaking  world  and   become  part   of   a  global language  of  technology.  Thanks  to  the  influence  of  the American computer industry, users of British English have abandoned some British spellings in favour of their American equivalents, such as program instead of programme and disk instead of disc.

Finally,  the  style  and  the  tone of  the language itself is changing.    Although   they  are    written   forms   of communication, the immediacy of emails and text messages mean that their language is usually much more informal than a letter   would  be, even  in  a  business context. And, to the concern  of  many  people,     spelling  and  punctuation  are becoming much more unconventional. 

The   senders  of  text  messages have invented a unique language of shortcuts (abbreviations). Here are some of them:

    CU     see you

    GR8   great

    L8R    later

    MSG  message

    NE      any-

    R are

   THX    thanks

   TXT ME BAC    text me back

    U you

    UR      your/you’re

    WANT2. . .?       do you want to. . .?

    Y why?

   2DAY   today

   2MORO       tomorrow   

1 What is said in the text about

the spread of American English

huge changes for English

changing style and tone

changing words and meanings?

2 Say  the Internet words defined below. Use hints in the brackets if necessary:

a)Unwanted email sent to you by commercial companies.

b) A personal on-line diary or journal that anyone can access.

c) The imaginary ‘space’ through which Internet messages travel.

d) A videocamera that can transmit images live over the Internet.

e) An Internet business.

( webcam, blog, cyberspace, dotcom, spam )

3 Share your  personal  ideas and experiences on the Internet use.



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