For decades, educators from around the world have searched for a solution to one of the greatest problems of the English language – it is not 100% phonetic. Because written English is only about 40% phonetic (phonetic means words and letters are sounded as they are written), native speakers and people learning English as a Second Language (ESL) are faced with guessing the pronunciation of more than half of all English words.
Rabeck International, the global marketers of The DD Code, has supported the research and development of The DD Code for many years. The Australian-based company has now launched a range of online products using The DD Code English Language Learning System.
Rabeck director of studies, Orite Shapiro, stated, “There is overwhelming evidence from around the world that proves phonetics is the most important aspect of learning the English language, whether for native speakers or people learning English as a second language.
“The greatest challenge has been finding a system that delivers 100% phonetics. Until now it has been the holy grail for educators, academics and governments all over the world.”
Ms Shapiro continued to explain the issue of phonetics by saying, “There are 26 letters in our [English] alphabet, but there are 48 different sounds in our language, so each letter can have more than one sound.
“The consequence is, nearly every rule of English pronunciation has one, several or even many exceptions. This means there is a lot of guessing when learning pronunciation of written English.”
The DD Code is a simple number and colour system, which is applied to English text. Essentially it is a reference code allowing any user to clearly identify the pronunciation of each letter in each word, without having to guess. And because the code is applied to the text, the spelling is not changed.
To prove how effective The DD Code is, Rabeck International conducts ongoing test programs using English speaking children and ESL students from around the world, with results that are no less than amazing.
CEO Stephen Quinlivan commented how quickly The DD Code has impacted on the way people learn English. Mr Quinlivan said, “Using world-recognised testing, we have undeniable proof that The DD Code improves English reading skills, comprehension, pronunciation and accent.”
He went on to say, “The comments we receive from ESL students and parents of English speaking children are a credit to the 25 years of research that has gone into developing the system.”
Vivian, mother of 11 year old test program participant Naikia, reported, “She has just improved so much. Not only does she read much more fluently, but her comprehension has come up, and as the independent tester has just informed me, her [reading] level has gone up by 12 months …and that just all happened in the last 6 weeks.”
Candice, mother of an 8 year old, is quoted saying, “I think my daughter’s reading has improved more in 5 weeks of using The DD Code than in her 4 years of schooling.”
Anja, an ESL student from Germany said, “I think The DD Code is very, very good for learning English because the most difficult thing is that many words are written different to how you must speak them. Using phonetics removes this problem and The DD Code is perfect phonetics every time. Furthermore, with The DD Code you have fun to learn English. You can use it at home, so it is very comfortable to learn English in private.”
An interactive, online English course based on The DD Code is currently in development. The DD Code online tools, including Quick Code (a converter that changes any English text web page into The DD Code), Fast Phonetics (a converter that changes any English text web page into International Phonetic Alphabet symbols) and Write Now (the functions of Quick Code and Fast Phonetics in a word processor) are all available online now at www.theddcode.com/
