I cannot support LibriVox

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » August 13th, 2010, 11:55 am

I'm not sure what I'm mispronouncing, either. Actually, I run into this a lot because I read more than I talk (or listen, apparently). Especially in older works (say, pre-1923

) that use words we don't hear often.

I read something a while back for LV that made reference to a quay (as in a dock for a boat). Quay is not very common in American English, so I'd never heard it spoken before. Using my amazing phonetic powers, I pronounced it QWAY.

I didn't think anything of it until I heard the word used by someone else in another LV recording, and of course they pronounced it correctly as KEY.

I occasionally have to fight the urge to go back and fix it...

Jim

DeRamos · Post by **DeRamos** » August 13th, 2010, 12:44 pm

I knew what a /keesh/ was since I was a child, but I'd never confronted the actual word until I was a teenager. That was when an all-you-can-eat buffet opened in my town, and it had something called quiche on the menu.

"Qui-che," I thought. "Sounds exotic."

Lucy_k_p · Post by **Lucy_k_p** » August 13th, 2010, 3:34 pm

At least you didn't ask the waitress for a quickie! (Old, old joke.)

And once I have a fixed idea of how to pronounce a word I get stuck on it, even if I'm told it's wrong. I annoy my partner continually by referring to his dissertation as a desertion.

downey8kids · Post by **downey8kids** » August 14th, 2010, 5:45 am

I always have to do a correction when reading "draught." Why don't we change it to be spelled draft. For the life of me, I can't see how it's pronunciation can be arrived at from its spelling.

I also have a struggle with "hearth." I rhyme it with Earth and have to go back and make it sound more like the hear in heart.

I was once very kindly informed by a PL that "boatswain" is pronounced bosun. I was more than happy to go back and change my recording.

All that said, I have read chapters that included obscure, archaic Norse or Indian or Afghan words and place names that I could not find in a dictionary or on-line. When that happens, I just give it my best shot and try to be consistent. I know that some day I will end up with an angry Viking at my door to inflict my much deserved punishment.

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » August 14th, 2010, 5:53 am

downey8kids wrote:
All that said, I have read chapters that included obscure, archaic Norse or Indian or Afghan words and place names that I could not find in a dictionary or on-line. When that happens, I just give it my best shot and try to be consistent. I know that some day I will end up with an angry Viking at my door to inflict my much deserved punishment.

Beware, I know a lot of those

Kaffen · Post by **Kaffen** » August 14th, 2010, 7:26 am

Although I got pronunciations from Anna for the occasional sentences in Dutch when I read "Hans Brinker", I confess I haven't used LV's international connections to vet the Indian names in "The Kama Sutra". I suspect they would blow past other native-English people anyway, as incidental references to persons of 400AD is not why people will listen to it! Apologies to all!

NoDecaf · Post by **NoDecaf** » August 14th, 2010, 7:51 am

I would love to read Henryk Sienkiewicz's epic "Trilogy", but I always back off when I imagine a mob of Poles alternately roaring with laughter and throwing things at a computer speaker as they hear me mangle yet another Polish name.

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » August 14th, 2010, 8:08 am

Oh, I am sure we have people around who would be happy to help you with Polish and Indian names.

Post by **chocoholic** » August 15th, 2010, 8:02 pm

Note to self: next time you are going to record a diary, don't choose one written by someone who, despite being the same age and gender as yourself and who lived not far from where you grew up (so that one would think it was safe) -- was educated in France. *sigh* French phrases dropped casually all over the place, just as a matter of course.

Place names are another story. There are a lot of French-origin place names and surnames in the same book, and the way they are correctly pronounced is not the same as they would be in France.

...which reminds me of a forum discussion about Natchitoches, LA (pronounced NACK-uh-tesh)... not to be confused with Nacogdoches, TX (pronounced Na-kuh-DOCH-es). Now really, is anybody not from the US going to know that?

I once had a tactful post in an old solo of mine saying "I think these regional differences in pronunciation are so interesting" or something along those lines, referring to a particular word. Naturally it was not a regional difference, unless you count me a region of one. ha! I was very glad to get the little nudge since the word recurred through the book and it was one of those I had read but never heard spoken before. Even more helpfully, the person posted BEFORE I had finished recording the book.

Post by **knotyouraveragejo** » August 15th, 2010, 9:00 pm

I had to look up what a "glottal stop" was when someone posted this comment about one of my recordings on archive:

Thanks to the reader whose glottal stops (e.g., "moun-in" for mountain) make for interesting listening.

And yes, this is a typical regional American pronunciation! Fortunately the book was also written by an American author.

The listener who posted the comment was from Manchester, UK, where they apparently pronounce the t in mountain.

Post by **chocoholic** » August 15th, 2010, 9:06 pm

Ha, Jo! I had no idea that I didn't say the "t" in "it" until I heard myself on a recording. ("Ih was a dark and stormy naht.")

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » August 15th, 2010, 9:08 pm

The glo'al stop is common in English as spoken in London (?and the south-east generally). When I'm editing my recordings, I often have to re-record when I spot these, though I can often transpose a "T" sound from somewhere else in the recording ... it's such a short sound that it hasn't any other characteristics than "T" and loudness, so it's easy to do. Synthetic diction!

Peter

Post by **annise** » August 15th, 2010, 9:42 pm

When I was doing a Council Survey in Sheerness , all the locals worked in the po-ery and went to Si-ingbun to shop (insert "tt" in the space to translate) - and they thought my friend and I talked funny

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » August 16th, 2010, 4:51 am

knotyouraveragejo wrote:I had to look up what a "glottal stop" was when someone posted this comment about one of my recordings on archive:

And yes, this is a typical regional American pronunciation! Fortunately the book was also written by an American author. The listener who posted the comment was from Manchester, UK, where they apparently pronounce the t in mountain.

I love glottal stop accents! I find it's really common in people from Connecticut and other New England states. When I first went to college on the East Coast (from the Midwest) it took me a while to figure out what a "mih en" (mitten) was. Tim Roth on "Lie to Me" has a great example of the London variety.

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » August 16th, 2010, 9:47 am

chocoholic wrote:Ha, Jo! I had no idea that I didn't say the "t" in "it" until I heard myself on a recording. ("Ih was a dark and stormy naht.")

Actually, that may depend on where you put your mouth when you say it. In many accents of American English, final stops are simply unreleased. When an American says "tap" for instance, the final p is simply not released. In RP, the p is released, i.e. there's a sort of puff of air which follows it.