{"id":29,"date":"2008-12-02T16:45:10","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T16:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=29"},"modified":"2013-04-01T11:04:29","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T15:04:29","slug":"voa-honors-former-director-who-introduced-special-english-programming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/voa-honors-former-director-who-introduced-special-english-programming\/","title":{"rendered":"VOA honors former director who introduced Special English programming"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_31\" style=\"width: 166px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31\" title=\"loomis_0\" alt=\"Henry Loomis (1919-2008)\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/loomis_0.jpg\" width=\"156\" height=\"156\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-31\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Loomis (1919-2008)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Voice of America (VOA) recently <a title=\"VOA Broadcast Transcript\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/specialenglish\/2008-11-29-voa1.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">broadcast a tribute<\/a> to former director, Henry Loomis who passed away last month. The VOA tribute was appropriately broadcast in &#8220;Special English&#8221;&#8211;a broadcast method Loomis created and championed at VOA.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Importance of Special English<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Loomis developed the concept of Special English for VOA while travelling the world in the 1950s. He noticed that English was quickly becoming an international language and VOA&#8217;s international listeners were keen to learn but needed a simplified &#8220;text book&#8221; English broadcast to better understand the content. Loomis developed English broadcasts with slower speaking rates and more simplified vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>Though VOA began broadcasting in Special English on October 19, 1959, the programming was internally criticized as ineffective and American embassies even demanded that the slower rate program be cancelled. Regardless, Loomis continued to champion the method and hundreds of listeners soon wrote to VOA praising the system. Today, Special English programming remains some of the most popular at VOA.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Special Language Broadcasts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since I am a native English speaker, I rarely listen to programming in Special English. However, I have listened to programming from other international broadcasters in Special French (<a title=\"Francais Facile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rfi.fr\/lfen\/statiques\/accueil.asp\" target=\"_blank\">Fran\u00e7ais Facile<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Francais Facile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rfi.fr\/lfen\/statiques\/accueil.asp\" target=\"_blank\">Fran\u00e7ais Facile<\/a>\u00a0from Radio France International gave me the confidence to listen to professional news broadcasts in French when I was still a student. Though I speak French fluently now, I still like to listen to these broadcasts. I believe the slower rate and careful diction actually help to improve my French vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>If you have never heard a broadcast in Special English, I encourage you to listen to the VOA broadcast mentioned above&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/se-pia-henry_loomis_30nov08.mp3\">click here to download the recorded broadcast as an mp3 file<\/a> (courtesy of VOA).<\/p>\n<p>More information on Loomis and Special English:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Henry_Loomis\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Loomis&#8217; bio on Wikipedia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Loomis transcript\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/specialenglish\/2008-11-29-voa1.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">VOA Transcript of broadcast<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"VOA Special English website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/specialenglish\/\" target=\"_blank\">VOA Special English web portal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"BBC website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/worldservice\/learningenglish\/\" target=\"_blank\">BBC &#8220;Learning English&#8221; website<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"The Lectern: China and the VOA\" href=\"http:\/\/fcw.com\/blogs\/lectern\/2009\/01\/china-and-voa.aspx\">Special English testimony &#8211; from Federal Computer Week<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Voice of America (VOA) recently broadcast a tribute to former director, Henry Loomis who passed away last month. The VOA tribute was appropriately broadcast in &#8220;Special English&#8221;&#8211;a broadcast method Loomis created and championed at VOA. Importance of Special English Loomis developed the concept of Special English for VOA while travelling the world in the 1950s. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[11,12,10],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","tag-broadcasts","tag-special-english","tag-voa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6051,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/shortwave-radio-recordings-voa-special-english\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":0},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: VOA Special English","author":"Thomas","date":"April 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I believe that VOA Special English may be one of the best educational resources on the shortwaves. At Ears To Our World, we find that it is often the most popular program in countries where English may be the official language, but where locals only speak it as a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"VOApodcastimageSPecialEnglish","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/VOApodcastimageSPecialEnglish.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5809,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/voa-protests-jamming-of-english-service-to-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":1},"title":"VOA protests jamming of English service to China","author":"Thomas","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: VOA) The Voice of America is protesting new jamming of its English broadcasts in China. VOA Director David Ensor condemned the new interference and said the U.S. government broadcaster is working with experts to determine the precise origin of the jamming. He said \"the free flow of information is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"voa logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/a999voalogo_2050081722-26491.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6084,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/6084\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":2},"title":"VOA reducing shortwave radio broadcasts","author":"Thomas","date":"March 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the BBC World Service's lead, the VOA will reduce broadcasts to Iran,\u00a0Albania, Georgia and Latin America, along with English language broadcasts to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Full details below: (Source: Inside VOA) WASHINGTON, D.C.\u00a0\u2014 Voice of America is reducing some of its radio transmissions this weekend and ending\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"VOA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/VOA-300x168.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10081,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/sweeping-cuts-to-voa-rfe-and-rfa-shortwave-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":3},"title":"Sweeping cuts to VOA, RFE and RFA shortwave services","author":"Thomas","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunate news from the Voice of America: Congress has approved major\u00a0cuts to US international broadcasting over shortwave. Thanks to Dan Robinson for sharing this significant\u00a0news. Dan writes: This news emerging from VOA late Friday: VOA to end shortwave broadcasts in English and several language services Monday. Received this late Friday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Voice_of_America_Headquarters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36912,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/voa-learning-english-team-trains-rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":4},"title":"&#8220;VOA Learning English Team Trains Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"April 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: VOA News via Michael Bird) VOA\u2019s\u00a0Learning English\u00a0program is bringing its decades\u2019 long expertise of teaching foreign audiences the English language to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Learning English is VOA\u2019s multimedia source of news and information for millions of English learners worldwide. At the end of March, a VOA Learning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/VOA-Learning-English-Bangladesh-e1555238881416.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/VOA-Learning-English-Bangladesh-e1555238881416.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/VOA-Learning-English-Bangladesh-e1555238881416.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/VOA-Learning-English-Bangladesh-e1555238881416.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54364,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/seeking-recordings-of-voa-broadcaster-billy-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":5},"title":"Seeking recordings of VOA broadcaster Billy Brown","author":"Thomas","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I received the following inquiry from Neal Lavon via the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contact form. Check out Neal's request below and if you have any information or leads that might help him, please comment. Neal writes: I am working on a project about a Voice of America broadcaster from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-e1531303366290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-e1531303366290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-e1531303366290.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-e1531303366290.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}