Hi, I'm Dr. Curtis Ford.
I decided to create American Voices for two reasons:
- to help advanced learners understand native speakers of English better, and
- because I love hearing and sharing good stories.
A few years ago I started learning Irish Gaelic, the language of most of my ancestors. After a year or so, I decided to take an intermediate class in an Cheathrú Rua, an Irish-speaking village in the west of Ireland.
It was a great week. As I left I tried listening to Irish-language radio yet again, and it was both exciting and frustrating. Exciting, because I understood a fair amount... and frustrating, because I couldn't quite catch everything. I still needed some help!
And when I was working as a language teacher myself at the University of South Carolina, I often wanted to bring radio stories I'd heard to my students. But there was never enough time to prepare the extra materials that would help them understand.
I created American Voices to solve these problems for students and teachers of English.
“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”
–J.K. Rowling
We are in a new Golden Age of storytelling.
With a microphone, a computer, and the internet, talented podcasters and journalists can share their stories with the world. What better way for you to get to know a language and culture...while improving your English?
And one more thing. Podcasters are often like language teachers: they work hard, but they usually don't earn much money. Since I pay a licensing fee to the producer of every story in American Voices, your support for American Voices helps creative people to do more great work.