Specialized English
Encyclopedia
Specialized English is a controlled version of the English language
used for radio broadcasting
, easier for non-native speakers of English. It is derived from Voice of America
(VoA) Special English
.
Specialized English was developed initially by Feba Radio
in the UK, but Feba ceased direct involvement in 2009. Specialized English programs are now produced in the US by Words of Hope and ReFrame Media and in the UK by HCJB Global. All of these are Christian religious broadcasters, but Specialized English is not used for religious preaching programs. Its main use is in the features service program 'Spotlight', which is produced jointly and widely broadcast on over sixty outlets globally. Scripts and audio are also available freely on the Spotlight website.
, and it almost is the same. Both use a 1500 word core vocabulary, short sentences, and slow delivery (about 90 wpm). Special English
was developed from about 1959 by Voice of America
. Specialized was developed from Special in the late 1990s, independently of Voice of America. The methodological ethos is identical, but there is a slight difference in the vocabulary, and Specialized is more international. VoA is a federal US government department so is restricted from making Special English programs for anything other than VoA's own use. Specialized English operates in the civil society sector, and the developers aspire to make programmes for a variety of public service purposes, subject to resources being available. The developers of Specialized felt they should choose a name that acknowledged both the similarity and the difference.
The reason that Specialized was developed from Special English
has to do with their respective intended usage. They are not primarily teaching tools (even though they are popular with listeners as an aid to learning) but communication tools. The choice of words in the 1500 word list depends to a degree on what is to be communicated. Most of the words are the most frequently learned, most commonly used English words. Both tools use these words. But many words are chosen for the intended purpose. For example, Special English
uses words a US government news broadcaster might need, such as Congress, federal, administration, capitalism and recession. Specialized replaces some of these words with words used for religious subjects, such as blessing, prayer, miracle, and faith. Further revisions of the Specialized English list were made in 2000 and 2007, in the light of experience. Still, the overlap of the two vocabularies is 91.3%. The Specialized English word list allows greater breadth of meaning in some of the words used in both lists. For example, the word 'joint':
Special: joint - ad. shared by two or more
Specialized: joint - ad. shared by two or more; n. the place where two parts or things are fixed together.
Specialized also allows more prefixes and suffixes, which has allowed some words to be removed from the core list. (eg: wonderful not needed in the list because it can be built from wonder+ful)
As well as the 1500 word core vocabulary, both Special and Specialized English also generally allow: inflections of the core words, numbers up to a million, pronouns, proper nouns, and any words whose meaning can be communicated in real time (in a radio broadcast) using the core vocabulary.
The following table lists some differences between the two methods.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
used for radio broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
, easier for non-native speakers of English. It is derived from Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
(VoA) Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
.
Specialized English was developed initially by Feba Radio
Feba Radio
Feba Radio is a broadcasting network. It is driven by Christian values rather than by government or commercial aims. It was established in 1959 in UK as the Far Eastern Broadcasting Associates - associated with Far East Broadcasting Company operating in USA and Philippines and the Far East...
in the UK, but Feba ceased direct involvement in 2009. Specialized English programs are now produced in the US by Words of Hope and ReFrame Media and in the UK by HCJB Global. All of these are Christian religious broadcasters, but Specialized English is not used for religious preaching programs. Its main use is in the features service program 'Spotlight', which is produced jointly and widely broadcast on over sixty outlets globally. Scripts and audio are also available freely on the Spotlight website.
Design and usage
Specialized English sounds the same as Special EnglishSpecial English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
, and it almost is the same. Both use a 1500 word core vocabulary, short sentences, and slow delivery (about 90 wpm). Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
was developed from about 1959 by Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. Specialized was developed from Special in the late 1990s, independently of Voice of America. The methodological ethos is identical, but there is a slight difference in the vocabulary, and Specialized is more international. VoA is a federal US government department so is restricted from making Special English programs for anything other than VoA's own use. Specialized English operates in the civil society sector, and the developers aspire to make programmes for a variety of public service purposes, subject to resources being available. The developers of Specialized felt they should choose a name that acknowledged both the similarity and the difference.
The reason that Specialized was developed from Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
has to do with their respective intended usage. They are not primarily teaching tools (even though they are popular with listeners as an aid to learning) but communication tools. The choice of words in the 1500 word list depends to a degree on what is to be communicated. Most of the words are the most frequently learned, most commonly used English words. Both tools use these words. But many words are chosen for the intended purpose. For example, Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
uses words a US government news broadcaster might need, such as Congress, federal, administration, capitalism and recession. Specialized replaces some of these words with words used for religious subjects, such as blessing, prayer, miracle, and faith. Further revisions of the Specialized English list were made in 2000 and 2007, in the light of experience. Still, the overlap of the two vocabularies is 91.3%. The Specialized English word list allows greater breadth of meaning in some of the words used in both lists. For example, the word 'joint':
Special: joint - ad. shared by two or more
Specialized: joint - ad. shared by two or more; n. the place where two parts or things are fixed together.
Specialized also allows more prefixes and suffixes, which has allowed some words to be removed from the core list. (eg: wonderful not needed in the list because it can be built from wonder+ful)
As well as the 1500 word core vocabulary, both Special and Specialized English also generally allow: inflections of the core words, numbers up to a million, pronouns, proper nouns, and any words whose meaning can be communicated in real time (in a radio broadcast) using the core vocabulary.
The following table lists some differences between the two methods.
| Property | Special English Special English Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a... (VoA) |
Specialized English (Feba et al.) |
|---|---|---|
| Date developed | 1959 originally, with later revisions. | 1998 cloned from VoA Special English, with mods and revisions. |
| Core vocabulary | 1493 words | 1508 words |
| Extra words (appendices) | 117 words | 89 words |
| Principal uses | Radio news and features, esp. US. | Radio features, international. |
| Broadcast context | VoA outlets, usually with other English broadcasts. | Independent outlets, mostly Christian, usually in non-English language services. |
| Use of English | US English | US and UK English. |
| Voices | US | International, but mostly US and UK |
| Use of music and sound effects | Sparing | Extensive |
| Production centers | 1 US | 2 US, 1 UK |
| Words in one core list, but not the other. (However, the way that Special/ized English works means that the presence/absence of a word in the core list is not the only guide to whether it is used in the programs). |
In 'Special' list only: administration, agency, aggression, agriculture, air force, album, amend, anarchy, arms, artillery, astronaut, astronomy, asylum, automobile, ballot, boycott, budget, cabinet, campaign, capitalism, careful, case (1 of 2), ceasefire, chairman, children, civil rights, civilian, clergy, coalition, colony, committee, congress, conservative, container, convention, co-operate, curfew, customs (port), deaf, deficit, delegate, denounce, deploy, dictator, diplomat, disarm, dissident, extremist, federal, fireworks, government, grind, guarantee, halt, headquarters, hijack, inflation, jail, lamb, legislature, liberal, manufacture, mayor, media, militant, missile, mob, movie, nominate, offensive, our, oust, parachute, postpone, profession, professor, propaganda, publication, radar, railroad, realistic, recession, relations, repress, sabotage, senate, sickness, stab, submarine, substitute, subversion, succeed, supervise, swear in, telescope, them, transportation, treason, troops, truce, us, veto, wonderful |
In Specialized list only: achieve, address, advantage, alliance, amaze, arrow, attitude, authority, bag, basic, behave, behavior, bend, birth, bless, blessing, bow, bow, branch, breath, camel, cassette, cent, chapter, character, class, coat, coin, column, concentrate, conscience, corner, courage, cousin, crown, curtain, death, decay, deserve, devote, dictate, divorce, donkey, else, envy, excite, faith, favorite, fever, gate, generation, global, greed, image, Internet, joy, king, layer, leaf, lock, lord, lot, manage, master, medical, messenger, miracle, national, negative, notice, orange, origin, particular, persuade, pleasant, positive, poverty, prayer, print, product, promise, proud, railway, refrigerator, relate, rent, replace, respect, rid, royal, shame, shirt, smile, snake, solution, song, student, success, sword, symbol, table, tempt, tent, those, toilet, translate, triangle, trousers, truth, verse, virgin, wine, wing, witness. |