Saturday, March 04, 2006

All the news that fits

I've heard it said that the newspaper USA Today has a fifth-grade reading level. I don't know if this is true, but it always seems to have shorter sentences and easier vocabulary than other major newspapers. This difference was never something I gave much attention. When you're studying a foreign language, though, it can make all the difference. I've been annoyed at the difficulty I have understanding the B92 website because the Serbian version has so much more content than the English version. When I went to get my hair cut the other day, though, they had a copy of Kurir in the salon, and I found that it was much easier for me to understand. The only problem? This is the kind of newspaper that publishes articles about the secret US military plan to train shark spies. I guess it's OK, though. Given the real news of what's going on here, Meaghan says she feels safer if we're protected by remote-controlled genetically engineered shark assassins.

2 comments:

Meaghan said...

We're gonna need a bigger boat!

Anonymous said...

Hello Daniel dont hesitate to send your comments to B92 directly to the English language newsite and to Veran Matic too.

You are only one of many who has noticed the lapse in standards in the last few months / years.

This is due to an alleged lack on interest on the part of those that use the English language site but in my opinion it goes both ways.

I bet you that the English language site had hundreds of thousands of hits when Milosevic died and will again have hundreds of thousands re Mladic / Kosovo etc etc.

If 'old' visitors notice that the site has improved they may come back. That must be good for B92, and Serbia as a whole.

The only slight improvement I've noticed is that tourist style information they have - which note they borrowed from somebody else rather than did in house, saving costs no doubt.