IT specialists themselves believe that there is nothing to talk about: without English, no one can become an IT specialist. But this is a slight exaggeration. Perhaps he cannot be advanced, but beginner programmers sometimes have friction with English. In the field of IT, this situation threatens to disaster, and there is no other way but to start learning English seriously.
It is best to make this process parallel: gaining professional knowledge and learning English. The field of information science and technology is developing at a tremendous speed, new products and fresh ideas appear every day. Most of the information is published in English, and you can lag behind in professional development while waiting for translations.
Educational material for learning English on the IT profile is on the network - in the same place where IT specialists themselves live most of the time.
Video and Audio Resources: Listen to IT Slang and Terms
For communication in a professional environment there is a "secret" language, which is understood only by "initiates", specialists in this field. This refers not only to terms, but also professional slang, jokes, understandable only to pros. This code language is so prevalent in the IT environment that it is constantly ridiculed and parodied in films and literature.
To use code and slang IT words in communication, you need to know how they sound, what they are combined with, in what situations they are used. Sources that are usually used to learn spoken English will help here:
- Movies
- TV series
- Podcasts
- YouTube channels.
Movies and TV shows are best watched with English subtitles, with special extensions that allow you to clarify the meaning of the word as you watch it.
You can choose from two films about an iconic figure in the field of IT technology - "Steve Jobs: Jobs (2013)" and " Steve Jobs (2015)". Regular viewers scold both films for a large amount of details from the world of computers, but for special purposes - what you need.
The film " The Social Network (2010)" about the creation of the social network Facebook and its creator Mark Zuckerberg will also be interesting . If you want something easy, comedy, you can see «The Internship (2013)" whether work well at Google.
From serials useful for learning It-slang can be " Silicon Valley " : 6 seasons of a comedy series, where the heroes of the film transform their new ideas in the field of computer technology into operating enterprises.
To simply listen to professional English while on the road or doing some mechanical work, look for podcasts by typing the word “podcast” in the search bar and the name of a specific area of interest (for example, a programming language).
Examples of podcasts :
- IT Pro Show
- Herding Code
- Inside IT
- Soft Engineering Radio
- Microsoft TechNet Radio.
YouTube channels for programmers do not exist for learning English, but for obtaining new information on a topic, acquaintance with a certain point of view. However, they are suitable for "pumping" listening, listening comprehension, enrich with the necessary information.
Examples of channels :
- Thenewboston
- ProgrammingKnwledge
- The Go Programming Language
- LevelUpTuts
- SlideNerd.
Learning the old way: English textbooks for computer scientists
Watching movies and listening to podcasts requires preparation and a fairly large general vocabulary. Beginners are better off starting with the tutorials. True, textbooks for programmers have a drawback - they quickly begin to lag behind reality, do not reflect the professional vocabulary of recent years, since the industry is rapidly developing.
But on them you can get basic knowledge in the field of information technology and create your own professional vocabulary. In addition, they will help you understand grammar, which is impossible to do on your own. Textbooks are written competently, in a clearly verified style, their purpose is to explain the essence of the issue to students as clearly as possible. This is exactly the English that you need to master in order to communicate with colleagues from other countries, write articles, speak at conferences.
Examples of tutorials :
- Oxford English for Information Technology
- English for Information Technology
- Basic English for Computing
- Career path Information Technology
- Language and the Internet
- English language. Fundamentals of Computer Literacy
- English for IT students
- Check Your English for Computers and IT.
Where to find translation of terms: special dictionaries
Terminology and slang in the IT field is extensive and extremely specific. To translate such texts, using regular translators is not a good idea. Special dictionaries are needed here (of course, electronic). The articles of special dictionaries explain in detail the phenomenon that the term describes. Only they will help you to correctly understand what the article is about. The content of special electronic dictionaries is constantly revised and updated, the latest terminology is reflected. These dictionaries can provide professional knowledge.
The Dictionary "Basic Terminology" will be useful to those who do not translate anything yet, but just want to start with something to get acquainted with the terminology and terminological phrases in English.
Examples of dictionaries:
- Multitran
- Computerlanguage.com
- Techterms.com
- Context Reverso
- Computerhope.com
- Computer Desktop Encyclopedia
- Techopedia.com
- Gartner Glossary.
The natural habitat of the IT specialist: sites and forums
Internet resources in English for IT professionals can be of different directions:
- Study of a specific area of information technology
- IT industry news
- Forums.
Examples of training sites created by the efforts of well-known universities and scientific communities:
- Treehouse
- Codeschool
- University of the People
- Coursera
- Mozilla Developer Network
- DataCamp
- Stanford.edu.
Examples of sites that discuss the latest news, talk about new ideas and ideas in the field of IT:
- Ycombinator.com
- Slashdot
- I-programmer.info
- Geeks for Geeks
- Smashing Magazine
- Mashable
- Stackoverflow.
On English-language IT forums, you can not only find answers to any specific questions on the narrowest topics, but also get advice from colleagues on how to use certain expressions and terms correctly.
Examples of forums for IT professionals:
- Stack Overflow
- Forums.devshed.com
- Stackoverflow.com
- Codementor. Community
- Softwareengineering.stackexchange.com.
