regional variations - or ignorance

[sydcarten]

I recently heard someone on Librivox pronouncing 'cavalry boots' like it was 'calvary boots'. The mind boggles at the alternative interpretations it opens up.

And what about the word 'preface'. I pronounce it like: PREFF-UHS. On one Librivox recording a reader pronounces it as PREE-FACE - not just once, but FIVE times!

I don't know if this is a legitimate regional variation, or just plain ignorance, but it sure grates on my nerves.

[Steampunk]

I expect some nice Admin person may be along shortly to modify your post, but in case you get to it first...

Calvary (as in Golgotha, where Christ was crucified) and cavalry (as in horse-mounted troops) are similar enough in spelling and pronunciation to fall into the "honest mistake" category. Obviously, which is meant should be clear from the context.

The correct pronunciation of preface is, of course, 'pre-fəs. Saying it PREE-FACE is incorrect, but again, not really confusing given the context.

As for your nerves... I might suggest a nice warm bath, or possibly a nap, before listening to your audio selection. Personally, I smile to myself when I hear little gaffes like these and remember that I, too, am human. And I silently thank, rather than reproach, the kind volunteer who has taken the time out of his or her no-doubt busy life to record (albeit imperfectly) whatever it is I'm listening to.

My $.02...


Jim

[Starlite]

I know I recently mixed up 'cavalry' & 'calvary'. A nice proof listener pointed it out to me and then I had the hardest time saying it correctly! ) If it was me again, please PM me and I will see if I can fix it.

Yes they have very different meanings and as Steampunk says, it will be clear in the text which one is meant!

We also have many readers where English is not their native tongue so please just be patient. It certainly falls into our 99% standards. We don't look for 100% or there would be so many books that would never make it to the catalog.

Just be thankful you have access to a huge library of FREE audiobooks that you would probably never get from the big publishers.

Esther

[NightOwl]

Really sorry to see such attitude and post here.

Discrimination caused by cultural/racial/sexual/other-kind-of-cognitive/opinion "chauvinism" creates all kinds of misery and problems. And it helps to fuel more misunderstanding and further discrimination and conflicts between people.

I remember when foreigners first traveled to our shores. Some of them tried to learn Chinese/Taiwanese and even tried to speak it out loud. Some of the villagers who did not know any better and did not even know there's a world outside his/her village made fun of those foreigners. I'm pleased to say that not all Taiwanese hold such attitude, and even when those foreign friends couldn't pronounce mandarin/Taiwanese correctly after several decades of learning, we still embrace them warmly and think their accent cute. We know better to discount them as "ignorant" when they can't pronounce a simple Chinese word correctly!

There are more languages and cultural in this world that we yet to learn and meet.

HC

[Jc]

uh.... darn, I say PRE-FACE...

Though I think one has to show a bit of tolerance, especially when the president of the most powerful country in the world gets to say "NU-CU-LEAR"

[PaulW]

Recording one's voice and putting it out for the whole Internet-connected world to hear can be very scary, and can cause anxiety in some people, causeing them to pronounce words differently than they normally do. I know that on my first recording, the Preface to A Catechism of Familiar Things, I had to record the whole thing at least six times before I was satisfied with it.

As far as "cavalry" goes, I have heard soldiers in the US Army who are assigned to a cavalry unit pronounce the word "cal-va-ry". If the folks who are assigned to a cavalry unit can't pronounce the word correctly, I'm not surprised that someone who may only run across the word occasionally in a book, or have heard it from Westerns, might mis-pronounce it. As a proof-listener, I try to catch such differences and point them out to the reader in a way that points out the difference, but does not make any judgments as to their reading.

And, as Starlite points out, we do have a fairly large number of readers whose native languate is something other than English. I was born and raised speaking US English, grew up as an Army brat and spent several years outside the US, and still have not learned enough of any non-English language to be willing to record in it. The fact that readers whose native language is not English have learned English as a second (or third) language, and are willing to record books in English and publish them for the world to listen to, merits much praise and a huge round of applause

[Steampunk]

uh.... darn, I say PRE-FACE...

Though I think one has to show a bit of tolerance, especially when the president of the most powerful country in the world gets to say "NU-CU-LEAR"

Yeah, them there foreigners sure does talk funny, huh?

Nu-cu-ler is one of (many) common Americanisms. I know it's come into more world-wide attention as one of W's more frequent, if not egregious, linguistic blunders, but it's not new or unique to him. He's from Texas, after all, and those people down there are (proudly!) almost a nation and people onto themselves.

I'm originally from the southern US, and while I don't have much of an accent, I plead guilty to occasionally relapsing into the dialectical, especially when I'm speaking to a fellow Southerner. Nevertheless, I consider myself literate and generally capable of making myself understood, despite my sometimes use of slang and colloquial speech.

I guess it's all about (which some of you may read: a-boot) where you're from. Ain't life a box of chocolates?!?


Jim

[hugh]

i just got lambasted by LibriVox's sysadmin for saying cameraflage. i don't think i'd said the word since I was 12, when it was most definitely spelled, and pronounced, "cameraflage." this was the mid-eighties; since then there has been a change in the dictionaries I think.

[PaulW]

He's from Texas, after all, and those people down there are (proudly!) almost a nation and people onto themselves....

Jim

Yer dang right we are! After all, we WERE a Republic before becoming a State!

[Steampunk]

i just got lambasted by LibriVox's sysadmin for saying cameraflage. i don't think i'd said the word since I was 12, when it was most definitely spelled, and pronounced, "cameraflage." this was the mid-eighties; since then there has been a change in the dictionaries I think.

Heh... That would make a good sniglet.

Cameraflage: An object used for concealment to avoid having one's picture taken.




Jim

[hugh]

which reminds me of the Douglas Adams book/dictionary, the Meaning of Liff:
http://folk.uio.no/alied/TMoL.html

with definitions such as:
EPPING (participial vb.)
The futile movements of forefingers and eyebrows used when failing to attract the attention of waiters and barmen.

HADZOR (n.)
A sharp instrument placed in the washing-up bowl which makes it easier to cut yourself.

QUENBY (n.)
A stubborn spot on a window which you spend twenty minutes trying to clean off before discovering it's on the other side of the glass.

etc...

[Mango]

I recently heard someone on Librivox pronouncing 'cavalry boots' like it was 'calvary boots'. The mind boggles at the alternative interpretations it opens up.

And what about the word 'preface'. I pronounce it like: PREFF-UHS. On one Librivox recording a reader pronounces it as PREE-FACE - not just once, but FIVE times!

I don't know if this is a legitimate regional variation, or just plain ignorance, but it sure grates on my nerves.

Well, tbh, I don't see you taking your own free time to record for ungreatful so-and-so's like yourself.
People like you really great my nerves.
Pree-face, Preh-fuss, To-may-to To-mah-to.

[hugh]

ok everybody, let's be nice...

[RuthieG]

I have some sympathy with the original poster, in that I am a dreadful stickler for correct pronunciation. Fortunately my advanced years have meant that I have learned some discretion, and an incorrect pronunciation now causes a wry smile, rather than raised blood pressure.

Paulw wrote:

I try to catch such differences and point them out to the reader in a way that points out the difference, but does not make any judgments as to their reading.

This is the main reason why I hardly ever proof listen. I could not let such errors pass, but I am terrified of destroying someone's self-confidence. D'you know, a proof-listening tutorial would be brilliant. "How To Point Out Errors Without Causing Offence"

RuthieG

[Mango]

Sorry for my last post, but the original poster just annoyed me.