What do I think about YouTube?Well, I think that YouTube could replace television and radio as the main source of visual and oral entertainment. I know this is a strong statement but I honestly believe I’m not so far from the truth.
I discovered YouTube as a good source for language analysis. As a matter of fact, anybody says and writes what he/she thinks in a very, how can I say, direct way. Sometimes, people are too frank and they can post very rude comments, using foul language. I totally disagree with them, since straightforwardness does not mean vulgarity.
As regards my YouTube experience, I can say that, while searching on YouTube for funny videos to post in my blog, I come across some comments which were absolutely out of the world! I have always been told that orthography and grammar are the supreme 'laws' which enable us to learn a new language. Actually, I see that some native speakers do not care about grammar and orthography at all!
I think the language of ICT- information and communication technology can make us aware of how new words and new habits enter a language. For example, last Wednesday, Sarah told us how frequently some American students misspell some expressions and write "your" rather than "you are" or even "their" rather than "they are", in our forum about the Padova-Albany Exchange.
In my opinion, it’s important to distinguish among the kind of videos you can find on YouTube.
I mean, you can find everything; so we must pay attention to what we came across. Some videos are really weird! I think that YouTube, as any other tool, is a good resource if you use it the right way. On the contrary, it becomes very dangerous if people use it just to post insulting and offensive videos.
Before hearing about YouTube, I used to listen to BBC broadcast. I must say that on the BBC site you can listen to some very good programs and have a look at the scripts; but the spoken words are not supported by visual images. In one sense, the visual elements allow ideas to work with the full range of the human imagination.
As a consequence, this powerful tool will enable us to change our way to perceive information, communication and even learning. People are so used to communicating through digital materials that living without such technologies would be upsetting!
In conclusion, YouTube has become very popular and I think this is partly due to its high accessibly. Anybody can put almost anything on this site and the fact that people can rate the videos contributes to award high or low popularity to these videos.
I think YouTube is not only ‘a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips.’ (wikipedia) but also a way to communicate, exchange ideas and improve our language skills!
