VOA stands for Voice of America — the international radio and now television and web service funded by the United States government, broadcasting news to other countries in English and in dozens of other languages. It began during the Second World War, broadcasting into Nazi Germany, and grew through the Cold War, when for many people behind the Iron Curtain it was one of the few ways to hear news their own government had not written. It still broadcasts today. For English learners in Asia, VOA has a second life that matters more than the politics: VOA Learning English, its slow, clear, limited-vocabulary news service. The presenters speak at about two-thirds normal speed using a core list of about 1,500 words, and the scripts are published alongside the audio — which is why teachers have recommended it for decades and why you will see VOA 慢速英語 on shelves and apps all over Taiwan. Say it as three letters, "vee-oh-ay", usually written in all capitals as VOA. Because it is government-funded, its reporting is sometimes discussed as American public diplomacy; that is worth knowing, though its Learning English materials are ordinary news stories, plainly told.