Voice of America

On average, we have three meetings a day, and most of them are professionally fulfilling. Don't run away yet, dear reader - I'm not going to describe them all! Today I'd like to mention our visit to the Voice of America. The enthusiastic presentation was given by Mr Avi Ardetti, feature editor and senior web editor (on the left, and one of our coordinators Vadim Erent is busily making pictures - he is a nice photographer).

I have a soft spot in my heart for them. Back in the 1980s, I had a big lamp transistor radio (tube radio) and listened to the Voice of America. Those were the days! Behind the iron curtain, we could enjoy lots of radio stations broadcasting in different languages. Now, at the age of technology, I can listen to the BBC only. (Curiously, their broadcast wave in Russia is 666.)

Voice of America's Russian programs used to be jammed, as well as most English programs. But they also had programs in Ukrainian, and those were not jammed! Apparently, the Soviet authorities decided that no one would possibly understand this hopelessly foreign language. Or radio jammers were Ukrainians themselves and they just wanted listen to the programs over a cup of tea. Well, we understood too, my father and I. Being a Ukrainian, my father relished his mother tongue and would occasionally translate me something that I did not understand.

When many years later I decided to polish my pronunciation (in English, not in Russian), I used their Special English Programs. Although my pronunciation still wants polishing, it's not their fault, and I recommend that you visit their site www.voaspecialenglish.com. You won't live to regret it. If you do regret it, I'll buy you an ice cream as a compensation when I'm back.