iPhone App Helps With Incomprehensible Dialect
Wigan Pier (Photo: Dave Green)
We’re testing your knowledge of English in the Geo Quiz — not your standard, Queen’s English. We’re zeroing in on the dialect spoken in a certain part of Lancashire, England. It’s a town only about 30 miles from Manchester, yet the town’s local dialect can be incomprehensible to the folks in Manchester. That prompted a manager at an IT company there to develop an iPhone translation app.
Other than its dialect, the former coal-mining town we want you to name is famous for its rugby league, a Heinz baked beans factory, and a Hollywood celebrity who spent his early childhood there, Sir Ian McKellen.
So, which town in Lancashire are we talking about? Answer: Wigan!
Anchor Marco Werman talks to Martin Bradley of the British IT company Athernet Web Solutions. Bradley hails from Wigan himself. He and his colleagues have developed a mobile phone app to translate the dialect of “Wiganese” into plain English.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!