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.