British Council IELTS launches the 1001 Ways mobile application and celebrates the diversity of the English language.
Developed by British Council IELTS and available on the App Store and Google Play, 1001 Ways is a new application that celebrates the world’s accents and the universality of the English language.
With short videos and a unique message "There are 1001 ways to speak English", this fun and educational application gives users the chance to become accent experts by guessing the accents of inhabitants of different regions of the world. Users can also record and share their own accents to be part of the quiz.
The application is part of British Council IELTS’s aim to celebrate the differences in accents that can often confuse English language test candidates. It wants to show them as an asset to the English language and tell the world that command of English is the gateway to a world of opportunities. The IELTS test takes candidates’ different accents into account and, in its listening tests, offers audio materials that illustrate this diversity.
The 1001 Ways application is also part of a global multi-channel campaign launched in April 2014 and rolled out in over 25 countries on five continents. This major image and awareness campaign emphasizes the universality of English as the language of communication and the diversity of its spoken expression.