An Introduction to VOA

Type : international public broadcaster Country: United States Founded: 1942 Headquarter: Washington Owner: Federal government of the United States Official website:

Definition  Voice of America (VOA) 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 (BBG).  VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio and TV and the Internet outside of the U.S. in 43 languages.  VOA produces about 1,500 hours of news and feature programming each week for an estimated global audience of 123 million people.

History 1. VOA radio station, which was established in 1924, originally for war information, and comes under the leadership of the American International Communication Bureau. 2. It is the most famous of the nineteen radio stations of the United states of America for its propaganda to foreign countries 3. It now has sixteen broadcasting stations, sending news to the whole world in forty one language day and night.

the Headquarter of VOA

Transmission facilities VOA radio and television broadcasts are distributed by satellite, cable and on FM, AM, and shortwave （短波） radio frequencies. They are streamed on individual language service websites, social media sites and mobile platforms. VOA has more than 1,200 affiliate ( 分支机构） and contract agreements with radio and television stations and cable networks worldwide.

Languages  The Voice of America currently broadcasts in 44 languages (TV marked with an asterisk （星号）  44 kinds of languages used as follows:  Afan Oromo  Albanian*  Amharic  Arabic*  Armenian*  Azerbaijani*  Bengali*  Bosnian*  Burmese  Cantonese*  Creole  Croatian*  Dari*  English* (also Special English)  French*  Georgian  Greek*  Hausa  Hindi  Indonesian*  Khmer  Kinyarwanda  Kirundi  Korean  Kurdish  Lao  Macedonian*  Mandarin*  Ndebele [  Pashto*  Persian*  Portuguese  Russian*  Serbian*  Shona  Somali  Spanish*  Swahili  Thai  Tibetan*  Tigrigna  Turkish*  Ukrainian*  Urdu*  Uzbek*  Vietnamese

The number of languages broadcast and the number of hours broadcast in each language vary according to the priorities of the United States Government and the world situation. In 2001, according to an International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) fact sheet, VOA broadcast in 53 languages, with 12 televised （电视转播）.

contents : 1.Special English 2.Standard English according to the broadcasting speed.

History of Special English The first Special English program was broadcast on the Voice of America on October 19, Forty years later, Special English continues to communicate with people who are not fluent in English. But during the years its role has expanded. It also helps people learn American English. And it provides listeners, even those who are native English speakers, with information they cannot find elsewhere. Today, Special English broadcasts around the world seven days a week, five times a day. Each half-hour broadcast begins with ten minutes of the latest news followed by 20 minutes of feature programming.

Main characters  Clearly  Slowly  Understandably

Why is it special  It has a limited vocabulary of 1500 words. Most are simple words that describe objects, actions or emotions. Some are more difficult.  Special English is written in short, simple sentences that contain only one idea. No idioms are used.  Special English is spoken at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of Standard English.

Special English the radio time and frequency

Special English weekly program schedule

Two categories  News Program  Feature Program

News Programs 1) It broadcasts to listeners a variety of information on all aspects of the major events and wonders around the world. 2) It broadcasts five times a day to Southeast Asia(twice a morning,three times a night), the slightest punctual delivery.

Feature Programs A. Every 5 minutes one topic (report) Sun. Words and Their Stories Mon. Development Report Tue. Agriculture Report Wed. Science Report Thu. Science Report Fri. Environment Report Sat. In the News B. Every 15 minutes one topic (feature) Sun. People in America Mon. This is America Tue. Science in the News Wed. Space and Man Thu. The Making of a Nation Fri. American Mosaic Sat. American Stories