Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC
Learning English. I’m Sam.
And I’m Neil.
It’s nice to see you, Neil, [smiley face],
[high five], [fist bump]!
What’s this, Sam? Are you saying
hello with… emojis?!
Yes, I am! In this programme, we’re entering
the world of emojis – the small characters
people use to show emotions in texts
and emails. Do you have
a favourite emoji, Neil?
Mine’s the [crying tears of laughter] emoji.
I like the [smiling face with hearts] one, and
with over three thousand emojis to choose from,
there’s one for every occasion. It’s one of the
reasons why emojis have become so popular
over the last twenty years – they let people
put back some of the human emotion that’s
missing in written texts and emails.
We’ll be finding out more about emojis,
and learning some related vocabulary, soon...
but first I have a question for you, Neil.
It’s about the word ‘emoji’ itself, which was
invented in 1999 in Japan for the first
internet-enabled mobile phones. The name, ‘emoji’,
comes from the combination of two
Japanese words, but which words?
Is the word ‘emoji’ a combination of:
a) face and emotion?
b) picture and character? or
c) message and image?
I’ll say it’s a) face and emotion.
OK, Neil. We’ll find out if your answer
gets a [thumbs up] at the end of the programme.
When we talk with someone face to face,
we use physical gestures like smiling,
laughing or nodding to show the other person
how we feel. But these gestures get lost
in written communication.
That’s where emojis come in - they add feeling
and emotion to online messages.
But not everyone is an emoji fan.
Some people believe that carefully chosen
words are the best way of expressing yourself,
and that emojis are affecting our ability
to put feelings into words.
Here’s cognitive linguist, Professor Vyv Evans,
author of a book about the language
of emojis, explaining more to
BBC Radio 4’s, Word of Mouth.
A lot of people, you know, language-mavens,
the grammar police and so on, or say...
have this sort of jaundiced, prejudiced view
about emoji – that it's taking us back to
the dark ages of illiteracy - bring back
Shakespeare, and stick to the language of
Shakespeare and all the rest of it.
But that fundamentally misunderstands the
nature of communication. Emoji is important.
In fact, it makes us more effective
communicators in the digital age.
Vyv Evans describes people who don’t approve
of emojis as the grammar police – a slang term
referring to people who want
to see formal language
and grammar - what they call ‘correct’ English -
written online. The grammar police criticise
modern styles of English and like to correct
other people’s mistakes in spelling and grammar.
According to Professor Evans,
the grammar police have a jaundiced view
of emojis – they only see
the negative side of them because of
their own ideas and experiences.
What’s more, they think emojis
are taking us back to the dark ages
of illiteracy, when
most people couldn’t read or write.
If someone refers to the dark ages,
they mean a past time in history
considered uncivilised, and
characterised by ignorance.
But luckily for emoji fans,
the grammar police are in the minority.
Over 6 billion emoji
messages are sent
around the world every day,
with about 70 percent containing
emotion-based characters like
[smiley face] and [blowing kisses].
According to Professor Evans, emoji users
are more expressive,
more effective communicators.
So, could that be an advantage for someone
looking for love online? That’s what
Michael Rosen, presenter of
BBC Radio 4’s, Word of Mouth, wanted to find out.
Is it possible to start a relationship using emoji?
Well, there is research that’s been conducted by
Match.com, the American-based dating site,
and what they’ve found, based on
their research, is that the people that use
more emojis tend to be lucky in love,
they have more success in terms of dating.
In the digital age, using emoji makes us
more effective communicators...
... more expressive ...
... more expressive, we’re better able to express
our emotional selves, and people therefore
it stands to reason, if you use more emojis
you’re gonna get more dates!
For people who are dating, or starting
a romantic relationship with someone,
it seems that using emojis helps them
be lucky in love, an expression meaning
lucky in finding a romantic partner.
Emojis let us show our true personality, so,
Professor Evans says, it stands to reason - in
other words, it seems likely to be true - that
emoji users get more dates. And that’s
a big [thumbs up] from me!
What about your question, Sam?
Did my answer get a [thumbs up] too?
In my question, I asked you which words
combine to make up
the Japanese word, ‘emoji’.
I guessed it was a) face and emotion.
Which was [sad face] the wrong answer,
I’m afraid. In fact, ‘emoji’ combines the words
for ‘picture’ and ‘character’ in Japanese.
OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learnt
about emojis, starting with the grammar police,
people who want correct spelling and
grammar online, and criticise those who don’t.
If you have a jaundiced view of something,
you only see the negative side
because of your own bad experience with it.
‘The dark ages’ describes a period
in history characterised by ignorance
and a lack of progress.
If you are dating someone, you are
spending time with them romantically,
which means you are lucky in love,
an expression meaning lucky
in finding a romantic partner.
And finally, the phrase it stands to reason,
means that something seems likely
to be true, or it makes sense.
Once again, our six minutes are up.
Bye for now!
Bye!