This episode’s vocabulary
Pop-up
noun — an advertisement that is shown in a new window in front of the window that you are looking at on a website.
To market
verb — to make goods available to buyers in a planned way that encourages people to buy more of them, for example by advertising.
To enhance
verb — to improve the quality, amount, or strength of something.
To influence
verb — to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves, or thinks.
Algorithm
noun — a set of mathematical instructions or rules that, especially if given to a computer, will help to calculate an answer to a problem.
Decency
noun — behaviour that is good, moral, and acceptable in society.
Aim
noun — a result that your plans or actions are intended to achieve.
Predatory
adj. — people or organizations who are predatory tend to use others for their own advantage.
Superficial
adj. — not complete and involving only the most obvious things.
To cater to someone/something
phrasal verb — to satisfy a need or to provide what is wanted or needed by a particular person or group
Uptight
adj. — worried or nervous and not able to relax.
Resistance
noun — the act of fighting against something that is attacking you, or refusing to accept something.
Drive
noun — energy and determination to achieve things.
Standardise
verb — to make things of the same type all have the same basic features.
For one
idiom — used to say that you think your opinion or action is right, even if others do not.
Questions and answers
Okay, Rory. Give us your story.
There's nothing that annoys me more than these pop-up ads that come up on YouTube which market these online language schools. There's one in particular that markets itself as being able to enhance your accent or change it to be more like that of a native speakers. I don't really like pop-up ads anyway, since I'm the kind of person who looks for things they want to buy when they need it. I don't need to be influenced by some random ad thrown up by the algorithm on my screen when I'm trying to work or listen to music. So when these things come up, I'm already annoyed and unwilling to engage with it. As if that wasn't bad enough in the case of language school adverts in particular, it really offends my sense of decency and justice. Since like I said, they state their aim is to change how people speak in terms of their accents. Personally and professionally, I don't think people should have to change their accents in order to be understood by others. Since I was brought up to focus on what people say rather than how it's said and this sort of thing just flies in the face of that. Aside from that, it comes across as quite predatory and superficial in a way that caters to some people's greatest insecurities. Many students are already uptight about their accents and worried people might judge them for sounding foreign. And I think this only serves to make it worse. They could be doing something so much more productive. Like enhancing people's grammar or vocabulary for a high score. But instead, they choose the path of least resistance and focus their efforts on something like that. Moreover, I think the drive to standardise people's accents really takes away from all the variety in the world. I, for one, really enjoy how Polish and Russian people speak English, and if they decided to change that, especially to standardise it, it would make things a lot less fun. If this sort of advert weren't around on the internet. I'd definitely feel a lot happier about it.
And have you talked to your friends about this?
No, because most of my friends are not as sad as I am.