iPhone app will help translate slang

London: Can’t understand the kids? A new mobile phone application may help.

Over-50s group Saga is set to launch a mobile phone application to translate teenagers’ slang. It has been developed to help parents and grandparents stay in touch with youngsters and will be free to download to any smartphone, such as the iPhone, or similar hand-held device. The ‘Woteva’ app will translate 100 words or phrases. Among the translations are peeps, or people; fam, or family; endz, or neighbourhood; and sick, or good. “To some parents and grandparents, it can feel that the next generation has a language of its own,” the Daily Mail quoted Dr Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga, as saying. “A translator seems like the obvious solution to prevent the generational gap from widening. “This app will provide people with the opportunity to stay connected with youngsters, and nurture relationships across generations.” She added: “In our estimation around 5 per cent of all words currently in use in the English language are completely alien and indecipherable to people born before the 1960s.” The app offers the same service as an online dictionary dedicated to ‘teenglish’ – teenage English – which was launched in 2008. The charity Parentline Plus spent months talking to parents and teenagers about the latest slang before creating gotateenager.org.uk. ANI