AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: more junk English. RS: Back in 2001, we talked to writer Ken Smith about his book Junk English. In his words, Junk English is much more than sloppy grammar. Most often it is a tri...

Personal computers and the Internet have become vital tools for everything from communications and research to entertainment and office work. Not surprisingly, new words connected with these technologies are becoming part of common speech. VOA's Adam...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: we answer a couple of questions with help from English teacher Lida Baker in Los Angeles. The first is from a listener who teaches physics at Hebei Normal University in China. Bil...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster we talk about regional changes in American English with University of Pennsylvania linguist William Labov [la-BOVE]. Imagine a situation like this: WILLIAM LABOV: Someone says 'gee...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the sounds of change. RS: If you want a good example of how language changes, just picture a mouse. Are you thinking of a rodent -- or a device for moving the cursor on a computer...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: English teacher Lida Baker suggests five resolutions for people who want to improve their English in the New Year. LIDA BAKER: My first resolution that I would recommend people ma...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: more of our conversation with Jim Tedder, the creator of VOA's online Pronunciation Guide. RS: It used to be that when announcers at VOA needed to know how to say the name of some...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: VOA's prince of pronunciation. RS: Jim Tedder has been with VOA for 25 years. He works in the English production branch, and is one of the news readers in Special English. But he'...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster we have part two of our look at proverbs in American English. RS: We continue our conversation with Wolfgang Mieder, a professor of German and folklore at the University of Vermont...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: proverbs in American English. RS: It's tempting to call Wolfang Mieder the proverbial expert from out-of-town. A professor of German and folklore at the University of Vermont, he...