This is my newsletter I did to help support my issue, to explain it in more reasons, and to give you a place to support the issue. The following bibs are showing where I got my information for my newsletter. So If anything interests you and you would like to find out more on this topic please visit them.
1Ager, Simon. "Why Should I Learn a Language?" Omniglot - the Guide to Languages, Alphabets and Other Writing Systems. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.omniglot.com/language/why.htm>.
2"Why Learn Languages? 10 Good Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language!" World Languages & Cultures - Learn Languages - Know Cultures - Visit Vistawide. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.vistawide.com/languages/why_languages.htm>.
3"List of Languages by Number of Native Speakers." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers>.
4Kellerhals Jr., Merle David. "New Trade Agreement Will Help South Korea Grow Its Economy." America - Engaging the World - America.gov. 06 Dec. 2010. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.
5"FTD - Statistics - Country Data - U.S. Trade Balance with All The Countries of the World." Census Bureau Home Page. 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/>.
6"Careers in Foreign Languages: Jobs Resources for Foreign Language Majors." World Languages & Cultures - Learn Languages - Know Cultures - Visit Vistawide. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.vistawide.com/careers/language_jobs.htm>.
7No, Asaka. "Profile Essay." Personal interview. 28 Feb. 2011.
8Morales, Joel. "Students Organize Japanese Relief." The Daily Athenaeum [Morgantown] 13 Mar. 2011. Print.
9Jha, Alok. "Being Bilingual May Delay Alzheimer's and Boost Brain Power | Science | The Guardian." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/18/bilingual-alzheimers-brain-power-multitasking>.
10"Language Funding in Jeopardy." Asia Society. 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/world-languages/-american-schools/language-funding-jeopardy>.
11"Foreign Languages | Donor Support." Foreign Languages | Home. 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://forlang.wvu.edu/need_for_support>.
Hey, sorry I'm posting late. I had to work yesterday and was exhausted when I got off. Also, I guess my post is too big, so I'm posting in 2 sections.
ReplyDeletePart I
Textual Concerns
Purpose: To inform readers about the importance of different languages and to a lesser extent to inform about different cultures. This is apparent from the opening Czech quote, and is reinforced by the rest of the content. The interview with No Sensei and discussion of the Japanese relief effort further strengthen this point.
Audience: The audience here seems to be anybody who is a) A student of WVU or b) Plans to enter a competetive workforce upon graduation. Your interview with a professor and discussion of the Japanese club's activities lends the newsletter to a student audience, but you also mention how businesses need multi-lingual employees.
Arrangement: Similar to what you said about mine, it is a bit hard to see how things will flow since there are only a couple pages, but everything you have so far seems good. My only suggestion would be to maybe move the stuff about No Sensei and the Japanese club back a couple pages and have more topic-related content first, to help further establish your argument.
Sections: Again, since there aren't complete sections I can't speak too much about the connection just yet. Obviously you plan to have multiple sections, and the general introduction you give at the beginning leads me to believe that you will go into greater detail about things like languages in the workforce.
Ethos: I think the section talking about the Japanese club's support of the Japanese relief effort does a lot to paint you as someone who genuinely cares about other cultures. Other than that, the content of the first page illustrates your interest in the topic and shows that you are passionate about it.
Document Design:
ReplyDeletePart II
Document Design:
1. So far it is very easy to navigate the text. My only suggestion would be (at least on the first page) to utilize the "power zone" and move the table of contents/important facts over into the far left column, since they will stand out more. Other than that, though, I think the design so far looks good.
2.At the moment there isn't a whole lot of color here. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since where there is color tends to stand out more (The red cross). However, adding a primary color or two to the page might do more to catch reader interest.
3. The font looks good. There is a lot of writing on the pages and I think that the text fits the page well. I like that you don't use any extremely hard to read fonts, and the different headings and body texts are easy to differentiate between.
4. The visuals you have so far are effective and tie in well with what you are talking about. The picture of No Sensei, as well as the red cross image tie into their individual sections. Because there is a lot of writing, it may be hard to add pictures to the first page. However, one or two might be beneficial if you can find some that tie-in with the subjects.
5. The only "Figures" seem to be the the list of top spoken languages, but this is a cool statistic that I think brings a lot to your newsletter, especially because it shows how many speakers of the language there are world-wide. It helps to show the big-picture of your topic. Personally, I found it interesting that English isn't the top spoken language, and was even more surprised that the top spoken language was Mandarin (Nearly Double English!)
6. Again, this is hard to determine since the newsletter isn't complete, but so far it seems you do a good job keeping related sections visually similar.
7.So far the contrast is good. Like I mentioned it is easy to distinguish between sections, headings and body text.
8. "Proximity" confuses me, but if it is just a matter of spacing then everything seems uniform in terms of spacing between headings and body.
Praise: You do a good job conveying your interest in the topic. I like the detail in your body paragraphs, and also in the overall organization so far. Again, I really like the figure on the first page and think that it does a lot to contextualize your argument.
Suggestions: Color and images are my biggest suggestions. Because there isn't a lot of color right now, there isn't a whole lot to initially catch the reader's eye. Lack of images (particularly on the first page) also means that readers might get tired reading all of that text, and a visual break would be welcome. Aside from these, I think the "power zone" should also be taken into consideration when reviewing the design of your newsletter.
Looks like you're off to a great start, though!