You rely on a sentence to say more than
the denotation and the connotation;
you revel in the smoke that the words send up.

— Maya Angelou

Pronunciation, Dialect, & Speech Resources for Audiobook Narrators

This site is maintained by Judith West and Heather Henderson for our colleagues in audiobook production.
Many thanks to everyone who has sent us links and ideas. Keep them coming!
Contact Us here

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Ꙩ How to Use AudioEloquence Ꙩ

Use your browser’s Find function [CMD+F or CTRL+F]
to search quickly for specific topics or languages.
And be aware that many categories overlap. [More . . .]

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► AudioEloquence MegaDirectory ◄

Some 1,600 languages and dialects, color-keyed to
one or more of 9 multiple-language pronunciation websites
from AudioEloquence. [Go to the MegaDirectory . . .]

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special . . .

→ English-language Go-to Sites ←

• Collins English Dictionary

• Forvo

• howjsay

• Merriam-Webster

• YouGlish

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CONTENTS

NOTE: Many sites in this directory offer mobile app versions.

PRONUNCIATION SITES by TOPIC Bible Fashion Food & Drink Law Literature Music Mythology Names Multiple categories People & PEOPLES Companies, Institutions, Nonprofit Entities, Etc. Places Religions, Faiths, & Spiritual Traditions Science, Technology, & Medicine Visual Arts PRONUNCIATION SITES by LANGUAGE Multiple Languages African SWAHILI / KISWAHILI Yoruba Asian Chinese FILIPINO/PILIPINO/TAGALOG Japanese lao & thai Sanskrit English (Worldwide) North American Cultures (non-English) Gullah Native AmericaN / FIRST NATIONS Pennsylvania Dutch European (non-English) dutch French German Greek IRISH & IRISH GAELIC

European (non-English) cont’d Italian Russian SCOTS, SCOTTISH, & SCOTTISH GAELIC Spanish Swedish Welsh Yiddish Greek (ancient) Latin Middle Eastern Arabic Hebrew Turkish Oceanian Maori Tahitian DIALECTS, ACCENTS, & GENERAL LANGUAGE SITES Multiple Languages English WorldWide United Kingdom North America North American Cultures (non-English) Gullah European (non-English) dutch French scots Yiddish ADDITIONAL REFERENCE WORKS Dictionaries & Translators (human-voiced) Linguistic Tools TIPS, TRICKS, TACTICS

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Key:

 = phonetic renderings

  = audio samples (including some video)

= Editors’ Choice

PRONUNCIATION SITES by TOPIC

Bible

NOTE: Many standard dictionaries include biblical names and terms, and may be the best starting point for some searches.

• Bible Words: Phonetic Pronunciation — Extensive pronunciation guide for Bible words and names, especially useful for its notes on common mispronunciations (e.g., for Abednego: “uh-BED-nih-goh [not uh-BEN-dih-goh].”

• Biblical Greek and Hebrew Lexicons — Linguistic resource from (Christian-oriented) BibleStudyTools.com website, including phonetic spellings of words and names, as well as many human-voiced audio clips.

• Encyclopedia of the Bible — Comprehensive browsable list of Bible names and terms, each entry offering a phonetic pronunciation. Part of BibleGateway (a vast site whose many resources are difficult to navigate for pronunciation purposes).

Fashion

• The Fashion Dictionary: 75 Brands and Names and How to Pronounce Them — From fashion and beauty magazine Elle, a “comprehensive guide to not sounding like a [fashion] rookie.”

• Fashion Pronunciation — Video playlist of pronunciations of 42 major fashion brands and designers, from Imperial Hotel Management College. Despite poor sound quality, pronunciations are fully intelligible. NOTE: Use any browser other than Safari, which malfunctions with these videos.

• How to Pronounce Designer Names 101 — Harper’s Bazaar magazine’s “A-Z cheat sheet” for pronouncing 44 major fashion designer names.

• Watches Pronunciation — Video playlist of pronunciations of 17 world-renowned watch brands, from Imperial Hotel Management College. Despite poor sound quality, pronunciations are fully intelligible. NOTE: Use any browser other than Safari, which malfunctions with these videos.

Food & Drink

• The American Man’s Guide to the Pronunciation of Scotches — Esquire magazine’s list of major brands of Scotch whisky and their phonetic spellings, designed to preclude pronouncing, say, Glenfiddich to rhyme with crochet stitch and thus to safeguard U.S. testosterone levels on yet another front.

• How to Pronounce Wine Names — Phonetic pronunciations of more than 150 wines from around the world, from the For Dummies series.

Law

• How to Read a Legal Citation — Document from Brigham Young University Law Library detailing the elements of legal case and statutory citations, and listing the in-full form of various abbreviations found therein. Though “read” should here be construed to mean “decipher,” narrators should be able to construct a spoken version suitable to their context. As always, however, check with producer or author, when possible.

• Legal Dictionary — Law dictionary searchable by legal term and definition, as well as alphabetically browsable. Presented by Law.com, an extension of media company ALM.

• SEE ALSO Merriam-Webster.com; and Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court

Literature

• Shakespeare’s Characters: A to Z — Comprehensive directory of character names from Shakespeare’s writings, with phonetic pronunciations of those considered to require them. Part of the much-honored Shakespeare Online website, authored by literary scholar Amanda Mabillard.

• The Criyng and the Soun: Chaucer Audio Files — Links to textual excerpts from Chaucer’s works, with corresponding audio readings by scholars, intended “to help students improve their pronunciation of Chaucer’s Middle English.” Links begin mid-page to passages from The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, the Dream Visions, and The Legend of Good Women and the Short Poems.

Music

• Big List of Names — Quantities of names of composers and other music-related persons, works, and terms in 18 European languages, as well as names and terms in “other languages, mixtures, and idiosyncrasies [and] ensemble names.” For the site’s basic pronunciation guidance on 21 other European languages, visit pronunciationguide.info.

• Operas and Composers: A Pronunciation Guide — List of titles and composers of major operatic works; clicking an entry triggers an audio pronunciation.

• Pronouncing Dictionary of Music and Musicians — “Prepared primarily for the announcing staff of [Iowa Public Radio station] WOI, . . . the dictionary, with its 30,000 entries, is the most extensive of its type now available. . . . [It] includes a PDF file for each letter of the alphabet.” Be sure to check the extensive lists in the Addenda and Corrections pages, as well as the Pronunciation Conventions.

• SEE ALSO Latin Pronunciation Files for Choirs

Mythology

• Age of Bronze: The Story of the Trojan War: Pronunciations — Pronunciation page from Age of Bronze, “the continuing graphic novel series by Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Eric Shanower” about the Trojan War. Assurance is given that “everything in Age of Bronze is based on existing sources, whether mythological or archaeological.” (AE offers no such warrant.)

• Encyclopedia Mythica: Pronunciation Guide — Phonetic transcriptions of mythical figures, peoples, and places, mostly from the Greek and Roman traditions but also including some Asian, Middle Eastern, Norse, and Native American names.

• Mythology Names — Collection of nearly 1,000 names drawn from 19 cultural mythologies worldwide, most with phonetic renderings. The compilation is part of the much larger Behind the Name site included here under Names|People.

• Mythweb: Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology — Extensive glossary of Greek mythological names and terms with phonetic renderings, organized both by alphabetical Index and by Search.

• Pronunciation Guide for Lattimore’s Iliad — One-page guide to Greek names occurring in Homer’s Iliad (Lattimore translation), with short sections and notes that also make it an effective Quick Reference to classical Greek pronunciation generally.

Names

multiple categories

• ABC Pronounce — Australian Broadcast Company guide to pronouncing “names, places, and other terms not typically found in the dictionary,” with the majority of entries being public figures (Australian and international) from the 1980s through the early 2000s and geographic names. Pronunciations are almost exclusively Australian. Searchable and browsable by letter (“by topic” is not functional).

• AP Pronunciation Guide — Phonetic renderings of names in the news, as of 2001. Though entries in this unverified and probably unauthorized version of the 2001 AP guide are likely still valid, an up-to-date individual subscription to the official AP Stylebook Online costs $26.00 a year and includes both phonetic spellings and audio samples. NOTE: Many university libraries license the official online version for student and, sometimes, alumni use.

• British Pathé — Fascinating and valuable site housing digitized video footage from original newsreel company British Pathé from their archives (1910-1970) of newsreels, cinemagazines, and documentaries. Searchable database provides a YouTube-like resource for names, places, and events of the early to mid 20^th century.

• inogolo — “Website devoted to the English pronunciation of the names of people, places, and miscellaneous stuff.” The site contains a searchable database of names with both phonetic and audio pronunciations in English. Browse names alphabetically, by tags, or by topic. Also notable are the site’s Web Search, which queries dozens of name pronunciation websites with a single operation, and Web Directory, a topically organized guide to 50+ name pronunciation resources.

• The Pronunciation of 10,000 Proper Names — Digitized facsimile of 1909 book “giving famous geographical and biographical names, names of books, works of art, characters in fiction, foreign titles, etc.,” by Mary Stuart Mackey and Maryette Goodwin Mackey. Made available by OpenLibrary.org.

• VOA Pronunciation Guide — Comprehensive pronunciation database of some 7,000 personal and place-names worldwide, developed in 2000 by the U.S. government’s Voice of America broadcasting service. The guide is constantly being updated, and in 2013 the site was redesigned for a streamlined, simple-to-use search-or-browse user experience.

People & PEOPLES

• Author & Illustrator Pronunciation Guide — Collection of nearly 3,000 brief recordings of contemporary children’s and young adult book authors & illustrators saying their names, a free feature from educational service firm TeachingBooks.

• Baby Names of Ireland — Phonetic spellings of some 200 masculine and feminine Irish given names, together with a bit of information (meaning, lore, or history) for each.

• Behind the Name — Impressive database of given (or personal) names from cultures worldwide, accessible via search or browsing. Also features an outstanding collection of links to sites treating given names in an equally wide range of world languages. Sites vary in providing pronunciations, whether phonetic, audio, or both.

• Behind the Surname — Surnames sister site of Behind the Name (see above), with its own collection of links to other surname sites.

• BookBrowse: Author Pronunciations — Alphabetically arranged guidance in pronouncing the names of authors whose work has been featured on the BookBrowse site.

• German Pronunciation of Names — German masculine and feminine given names delivered by a native speaker of High German from Schleswig-Holstein / Northern Germany.

• How to Pronounce Artists’ Names (Vol. 1) — First of three articles — continued in Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 — from the magazine of the online marketplace Artspace, listing phonetic spellings of a total of 230 names of artists worldwide. Though most names are of contemporary figures, a relative few are from the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

• How to Pronounce Finnish Names — Extensive collection of sound recordings of Finnish proper names, mostly given names and surnames but also a number of place names and some commercial and institutional names as well. While the alphabetical list and update history pages gather together all the names on the site, the main page also offers nine topical categories (celebrities, geography, politicians, etc.) that list specific individuals or places.

• The Name Engine(R) — According to the site itself, Name Engine “provides the correct name pronunciations of athletes, entertainers, politicians, newsmakers, and more . . . All names are painstakingly researched for authenticity. Personal confirmation is the ultimate goal. At a minimum, they are confirmed by individuals with firsthand knowledge of the name in question . . . Because foreign names inherently sound different in their native tongue, The Name Engine presents the generally accepted “Americanized” version.”

• Nordic Names Forum: Pronunciation — Adjunct of the Nordic Names site, dedicated to providing help in pronouncing given names from Scandinavian countries. Free registration.

• Pronounce Names — “The purpose of this website is 3-fold: (1) Lookup [sic] pronunciation of a name. (2) Submit pronunciation of a name so that others can pronounce it correctly. (3) Request pronunciation of a name that you don’t know and would like to find out.” Recently, this site has extended many pronunciations to include audio on both its own site and YouTube.

• Pronunciation of Surnames — List of more than 120 surnames, apparently all originating in the UK, together with phonetic spellings of their counterintuitive pronunciations, drawn from the 119^th printing (March 1935) of Enquire Within Upon Everything.

• Pronouncing Index of Proper Names [Old Norse/Icelandic] — Extensive alphabetical listing of hundreds of Icelandic (Old Norse) names, gathered from the 13^th-century mythological and heroic work known as the Poetic Edda. IMPORTANT: Note that each entry is spelled as a phonetic rendering (not in its original script or with an Anglicized spelling). Phonetic guidelines are at the top of the list.

• Say How? — Phonetic pronunciations of names of public figures, compiled by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) for their narrators. Here’s an audio-enhanced version of Say How?, courtesy of the Wolfner Talking Book and Braille Library of the state of Missouri.

• SEE ALSO Names with Counterintuitive Pronunciations; and Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court

Companies, Institutions, Nonprofit Entities, Etc.

• The ABC Book, A Pronunciation Guide — Phonetic pronunciations of selected brands, companies, and other commercial names, compiled by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) for their volunteer readers.

• Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court of the United States — Alphabetical catalog of over 500 U.S. Supreme Court cases with audio clips and phonetic spellings, created by Yale law and linguistics students. NOTE: Because of the numerous individuals, institutions, and places involved, directly or peripherally, in these cases, this site may also serve as a more general resource for researching names in those categories.

• SEE ALSO How Do You Pronounce IT?

Places

• Edinburgh Doesn’t Rhyme with Pittsburgh - A Guide to Scottish Placenames — Highly informative, often (of course) clever annotated collection of Scottish place-name pronunciations. Note that this is page 1 of 3: 1 (Aberdour to Eaglesham), 2 (Edinburgh to Lesmahagow), and 3 (Loch to Wemyss).

• How Do You Pronounce Theydon Bois? (London Place Names) — Blog post with phonetic spellings of a couple of dozen commonly mispronounced London place names. Includes additions in the many comments (use your browser’s Find function).

• MissPronouncer.com (Wisconsin) — “Your one-of-a-kind online resource for hearing audio pronunciations of cities, towns, villages, parks, lawmakers, Indian tribes, counties, forests, and miscellaneous names specific to Wisconsin.”

• Montana Pronunciation Guide — Twenty of “the most common accepted pronunciations of some of Montana’s most mispronounced names,” in an article originally in the Billings [Montana] Gazette.

• Names in English with Counterintuitive Pronunciations (Wikipedia) — Alphabetical lists of “English personal and place names whose pronunciations are counterintuitive to their spelling, because the pronunciation does not correspond to the spelling, or because a better-known namesake has a markedly different pronunciation.” This resource is more extensive than it might seem, as several entries on the page point to additional long lists. NOTE: Hovering your cursor over IPA pronunciation symbols yields pop-ups with analogous sounds for each symbol.

• Northwest Pronunciation Guide — Lists of Northwestern U.S. and British Columbia place-name pronunciations (phonetically rendered), compiled by regional native Steven M. Sauke from local sources.

• Ohio Pronunciation Guide — Phonetic pronunciations of cities, towns, and other prominent geographical features in the state of Ohio, created and updated by the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

• Place Names of Northern New Mexico — Browsable alphabetized Pronunciation Guide to place names included in the online Encyclopedia of Santa Fe & Northern New Mexico.

• Pronouncing Iowa Place Names: An Audio Guide — Distinctively pronounced Iowan place-names, “expanded to 100 entries” (as of December 2016 update).

• Pronunciation Guide for Illinois Place Names — Searchable facsimile of a 1957 handbook on Illinois place-names, published by the University of Illinois Division of University Broadcasting. Most (if not all) of the terms on this extensive alphabetized list are likely still current.

• Pronunciation Guide for National Forests and Grasslands — “Complete list of national forest and grassland names and their pronunciations listed by state,” from the U.S. Forest Service. Includes audio plus three phonetic pronunciations.

• Pronunciation of Place Names (UK) — Privately authored selection of mostly UK place-names with often inscrutably counterintuitive pronunciations — for example, Woolfardisworthy (Devon), pronounced “Woolsery,” and Belvoir (Leicestershire), pronounced “Beever.” Some Australian and a very few U.S. localities are also included.

• South Carolina Pronunciation Guide — Sizable listing of place-names in South Carolina, created by SCIWAY (South Carolina’s Information Highway) and browsable by alphabetical menu or by searching the one-page directory via your browser’s Find function.

• Talk Like a Tar Heel: North Carolina Place Names — University of North Carolina site offering an alphabetized list of some 160 names of places and physical features, with phonetic and audio pronunciations (click a name) provided by local authors Bland Simpson and Michael McFee.

• Texas Almanac Pronunciation Guide — Extensive list of Texas place-names (many of which have colloquial pronunciations) and their phonetic spellings, with guidelines described in first paragraph.

• You Say it How in Michigan? — Collection of nearly 2,000 Michigan place-names, created by the Michigan Braille and Talking Book Library as a guide for their own audiobook narrators. Click on a phonetic spelling to bring up the corresponding sound file.

Religions, Faiths, & Spiritual Traditions

• Pali Pronunciation — Audio pronunciations of over 625 terms from the Pāli Canon, the earliest known collection of Buddhist scripture and the holy text of the Theravada school of Buddhism.

• Voodoo Phrases & Alt Names — Glossary of names and phrases, with phonetic renderings, of deities, rituals, and terms relating to the “Mambo tradition” of New Orleans Voodoo (descended from Haitian Vodou, but emphasizing magical aspects).

Science, Technology, & Medicine

• Bacterial Pathogen Pronunciation Station — Large and well-organized collection of pronunciation sound files, created for students at A.T. Still University in Arizona. NOTE: Some of these American pronunciations are inconsistent with those found at the Intro to Taxonomy site also listed here.

• The Biologist’s Handbook of Pronunciations — Digitized and searchable facsimile of an extensive pronouncing dictionary from 1960 (still accurate), with a range of current and archaic terms from biology and general science (including numerous Latin words), many of them unavailable in other online dictionaries. Suggestion: Use the alphabetized list rather than the Search function. See pages ix-xiv for a guide to diacritical marks and phonetics

• Drugs.com — Well-known pharmacological resource with a vast searchable and browsable database of medications, both generic and brand name, that includes a phonetic transcription for each entry.

• How Do You Pronounce IT? — List of some 100 of the “most commonly misprounced words in information technology.” Contains mostly abbreviations and acronyms from data and computer programming, many of them hard to find elsewhere. Compiled by a former journalist and current tech-company VP.

• How to Pronounce the Top 250 Drugs — Searchable database of 250 major drugs with audio pronunciations, created and maintained by pharmacist-educator Sean P. Kane. Search box is situated at mid-page.

• Mineral & Lapidary Pronunciation — Alphabetized list of some 200 rocks and gemstones (“Rocks for Dummies”) with phonetic spellings, from the Santa Rosa Mineral and Gem Society.

• Stars Pronunciation Guide — Extraordinary collection of some 250 of the brightest stars named to date, with phonetic spellings that indicate syllablic stress as well as any alternative pronunciation. Created and maintained by the staff of the award-winning site Space.com, whose mission is “To provide an amazing journey celebrating space exploration, innovation and discovery.”

• SEE ALSO Merriam-Webster.com

Visual Arts

• How to Pronounce the Most Deceptive Gallery Names — From the magazine of online marketplace Artspace, a list of phonetic spellings of 73 major art galleries around the world.

• SEE ALSO How to Pronounce Artists’ Names

PRONUNCIATION SITES by LANGUAGE

Multiple Languages

• BBC: A Guide to Languages — The BBC’s archived collection of basic information about 20 world languages, providing for each a brief inventory of “key phrases” with written and audio pronunciations; a concise treatment of “the alphabet,” describing and demonstrating (via audio) similarities to and differences from English sounds; and a boxed list of “related links” to external language-learning sites.

• dict.cc: Multilingual Dictionary — Translation database compiled and checked by user-contributors and including audio recordings of words and selected phrases and sentences. Focus is on English and German, with each of those languages translated into 25 others, building an extensive work-in-progress database of European languages. Click on a language pair to access bilingual alphabetical word lists and a search box.

• FAMiliarization — Language component of the wide-ranging compendium of cultural and language learning aids for countries worldwide sponsored by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). Access audio pronunciation files, romanized spellings, and any native transcriptions by searching, browsing language or country lists, or clicking the interactive site map. Unique and well-ordered Language Survival Kits offer Basic Language Guides, Pronunciation Guides, and collections of military, PR, and medical words and phrases.

• Forvo — Self-proclaimed (and probably accurately so) “largest pronunciation guide in the world,” with recorded pronunciations in over 200 languages. Users can browse words by Language or Category, or search the Forvo database. Registered users (no charge) may submit new words for pronunciation and offer their own pronunciations.

• ielanguages — Authoritative and highly useful/usable site featuring tutorials on 20 world languages, each including pronunciation guidance. Tutorials have been prepared by several different experts, so arrangement and content will vary. Some feature pronunciation guideline pages with excellent phonetic and English equivalency charts (no audio); others incorporate audio and sometimes video; and two (French and Spanish) are especially rich in pronunciation resources of all kinds.

• Language Guide — “A collaborative project to develop interactive, sound-integrated language learning resources,” with speech samples available in Dutch, German, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. Clicking a language yields categories, within which are image maps with rollover audio pronunciations of category-related words and pop-ups of each word written in its Latin alphabet equivalent.

• Omniglot — An “online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages” offering a wide range of language learning resources and tools, including many pronunciation tips and aids. (NOTE: Links not always highlighted.) Distinctive aspects include Language Exchange sites (shared learning and practice with native speakers), Articles (e.g., “Secrets of Speaking with a Genuine Accent“), a Celtic Languages guide, short Video Lessons for several languages, Online Radio Stations (for 100+ languages), and Site Search. For best overview, check out the Site Map and the A-Z Index of languages. Suggestion: Spend some time perusing this rich and diverse site so you’ll know what’s here when you need it.

• pronunciationguide.info — Simple but valuable phonetic pronunciation guidelines and tips intended “for native English speakers (particularly North Americans) on pronouncing [21] European languages that are often encountered in classical music.” NOTE: An accompanying page provides both phonetic spellings and audio clips of the names of individuals, ensembles, and works of classical music, grouped by language. [See Big List of Names above.]

• WikiTravel Phrasebooks — Foreign-language phrasebooks designed “so that an English-speaking traveler can ‘get by’ in an area where [a given] language is spoken.” Pronunciation Guide sections are most helpful, using analogous English-language sounds as models (rather than IPA transcriptions). Phrasebooks are “color coded according to their level of completion and overall quality.”

• SEE ALSO AlphaDictionary

African

SWAHILI / KISWAHILI

• KIKO (Kiswahili/Swahili) — An acronym for a phrase meaning “Kiswahili using the computer,” this site (sponsored by the African Studies Institute at the University of Georgia) provides guidelines for pronouncing Kiswahili (also widely known as Swahili), specifically on the page Matamshi ya Kiswahili (Kiswahili pronunciation). Further information and lessons, including vocabulary and video conversations with transcriptions are available through the Anza masamo (Enter course) link.

YORUBA

• AKOYE (Yoruba) — An acronym for a phrase meaning “successful Yoruba learning on the computer,” this site (sponsored by the African Studies Institute at the University of Georgia) offers Yoruba pronunciation guidelines, most pointedly on the page Ìxcnupe Ède Yorùbá (Yorùbá pronunciation). Yoruba is a tonal language whose transcription may require reading and/or reproducing a special font that reflects tonal inflections. Access additional lessons, vocabulary, and video conversations via the bere eko (enter) link.

Asian

CHINESE

• A Guide to Pronouncing Chinese Names (Pinyin Transliteration) — Extensive description and phonetic examples of how to pronounce Chinese sounds that have been rendered into the Latin alphabet (i.e., romanized) in Pinyin, the present-day system for transcribing written Chinese for most Western readers. NOTE: This site does not distinguish tonal variants.

• Learn Cantonese — Introductory resource on Cantonese Chinese. Extensive vocabulary lists provide pronunciations in phonetic transcription and, sometimes, via sound files. Audio samples, indicated by Chinese characters with a (very light) beige background, occur most abundantly in the Basic Vocabulary section. No search function available.

• Mandarin Chinese-English Dictionary — Audio dictionary of Mandarin Chinese, with searches available in Chinese script (traditional or simplified) and in Pinyin transliteration, as well as English«Chinese translations. Click the speech bubble beside the large Chinese characters in results page to hear the pronunciation.

• Mandarin Chinese Pinyin Chart — Exceptionally useful chart (on the language-learning site Yabla) providing audio renderings via clickable syllables of the Pinyin (official Chinese) system of romanization. Each syllable, when clicked, yields a further clickable menu of that syllable’s four possible tones, a feature invaluable in pronouncing Chinese. A link to sound-augmented info on tone pairs, another major facet of Chinese speech, appears at page bottom and as a top tab.

• Transliterating Chinese — Brief but very helpful clarification of the two major systems used to represent Chinese characters and words phonetically in English: the older Wade-Giles (e.g., Peking; Mao Tse-tung) and the newer, official Pinyin (Beijing; Mao Zedong). This page provides examples and guidelines for converting between the two systems and for pronouncing each.

Filipino/Pilipino/Tagalog

• Brief Guide to Filipino Pronunciation — Concise guide to pronouncing Filipino (Pilipino), the official language of the Philippines, including basic sounds, accents and stress, and irregular pronunciations.

Japanese

• Japanese Dictionary — Excellent multifaceted dictionary of the Japanese language, permitting searches using English words; Romaji, that is, Japanese words spelled using the Roman (Latin) alphabet; or either of the two main Japanese writing systems, Kanji and Kana. Results yield a table containing all these elements, plus a sound recording of the word.

lao & thai

• Thai Language / Lao Language — Introduction to pronunciation characteristics of these two related Southeast Asian languages, with thorough but clear discussions of both the phonetic and the tonal elements of each.

Sanskrit

• Pronouncing Sanskrit — Two brief treatments of Sanskrit pronunciation for English speakers. A Rough Guide offers seven basic rules that cover “about 80% of pronouncing Sanskrit.” The Comprehensive Guide, only slightly longer, provides individual attention to the sounds of each vowel, consonant, and special combination.

English (Worldwide)

• YouGlish — Valuable site offering video clips culled from YouTube, each including the chosen word or phrase as spoken during an interview, lecture, ad, performance, or other footage, cued to start seconds before the searched item is spoken. Most clips are pulled from reliable sources (e.g., TED Talks and high-end commercials vs. school video projects and news sound-bites). Search results can be filtered for U.S., British, or Australian pronunciation and allow pronunciations to be chosen contextually — by culture, speaker’s native accent, occasion, etc.

• howjsay — “A free online Talking Dictionary of English Pronunciation,” produced by teacher-scholar Tom Bowyer. Howjsay offers an extensive database of audio clips using mostly Standard British English pronunciations, but also World English and American English variants, where useful (see details at Notes).

• SEE ALSO The Criyng and the Soun: Chaucer Audio Files

North American Cultures (non-English)

gullah

• Glossary of Gullah Words — Extensive word list in a table comprising a column of phonetically spelled Gullah creolized pronunciations of English words, the latter in a second, corresponding column.

• SEE ALSO Gullah Language: Hear-and-Read Gullah

Native American / FIRST NATIONS

• FirstVoices (British Columbia) — Audio pronunciations available from extensive word lists in 51 different Canadian indigenous languages. Type term (in either the indigenous language or in English) into the search box at the top of this page for results including audio indigenous pronunciation. Alternatively, click on one of the individual languages displayed, then on the Learn Our Language tab, and then on the Words tab, to access a word list and a language-specific search box [English or indigenous]. NOTE: To download special fonts for displaying certain characters, see this page.

• Guide to the Pronunciation of Indigenous Communities and Organizations in BC (pdf) — Listing drawn from the September 2018 Guide to Aboriginal Organizations and Services in British Columbia and “created with input from First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations, as well as from First Peoples’ Cultural Council.”

• Inuktitut Tusaalanga: Glossary — Alphabetical list and sound files of words and phrases from Inuktitut, the language spoken by most native Inuit people of the eastern Canadian Arctic. Inuktitut is best understood as “a spectrum of dialects that vary enormously from one end of the Arctic to the other,” and four of these dialects are available here via drop-down menu. This award-winning site also has a Pronunciation page, with phonetic guidelines and examples keyed to Glossary entries. 

• Lenape Talking Dictionary — Extensive searchable resource for the language of the Delaware (Lenape) people. Access audio by native speakers from the database of over 17,000 words by searching in either Lenape or English (for the Lenape translation). Product of the Lenape Language Preservation Project.

• Native Languages of the Americas — Alphabetized index of tribes and languages cataloging a massive database of nearly 800 North (U.S.), Central, and South American native languages. Each entry’s informational page typically includes a pronunciation guide, vocabulary, grammar, cultural info, and internal and external links. The site’s many intersecting subpages can be confusing, but two subsections — languages by language family and selected links to other resources on Native American languages — may be especially helpful.

• Pronunciation Guide to First Nations in British Columbia — List of some 170 tribal (First Nations) names in British Columbia, arranged alphabetically and offering phonetic pronunciations for each. [NOTE: Formatting problem makes list hard to read about a third of the way down. Workaround: Highlight/copy/paste the list into Word or other document to read. Site contacted requesting fix.]

Pennsylvania Dutch

• A Guide to Pronunciation of Pennsylvania-Dutch Words — Brief phonetic guide to sounds in the language of the Amish people, provided by romance novelist Wanda Brunstetter.

• Pennsylvania Dutch Dictionary — “First online, searchable dictionary for the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, also known as Pennsylvania German.” Not all entries contain pronunciations, but those that do provide audio. In addition, the About page offers pronunciation help, including how to use its wildcard search to access dialects and orthographic variations associated with Pennsylvania Dutch.

European (non-English)

dutch

• Hear Dutch Here — Dutch language learning website from Marco Schuffelen, featuring sound files in categories such as Dutch pronunciation and names (personal, geographical, etc.), as well as various tips (e.g., “Dutch Accent for The Stage“).

French

• Beginning French Pronunciation — Training wheels for French pronunciation, with English phonetic parallels, as well as French-language audio files, together providing helpful sounds for English speakers.

• Larousse French-English Dictionary — One of a collection of extensive bilingual dictionaries with entries that include associated phrases and idioms, each with sound files. To use, enter the French word or term you seek in the search box (top right). This dictionary, unlike some, allows you to search on any form of a word — person, tense, part of speech, etc. — and get a useful result, whether as a cross-reference (with audio pronunciation) to the main entry or among the sample sentences and phrases that the main entry provides.

• How to Pronounce More Than 2,500 Words in French — Self-described as comprising “basic rules and audiofiles [for] correct French pronunciation,” this compact site is more than the promised 2,500 words, which begin in the French Audio Guide a little over halfway down the page. Of equal value are the rules and guidelines that precede the list, and describe how to produce the sounds of French.

German

• A Guide to German Pronunciation — Descriptive text and charts, linked to extensive audio examples to provide practice with German pronunciation. Site offers standard pronunciation as well as some regional variations and loan-word (e.g., English, French) exceptions. NOTE: Right-click on sound files and open a second window to view text while listening.

• Larousse German-English Dictionary — One of a collection of extensive bilingual dictionaries with entries that include associated phrases and idioms, each with sound files. To use, enter the German word or term you seek in the search box (top right). This dictionary, unlike some, allows you to search on any form of a word — person, tense, part of speech, etc. — and get a useful result, whether as a cross-reference (with audio pronunciation) to the main entry or among the sample sentences and phrases that the main entry provides.

• LEO Deutsch-English Dictionary — German-English searchable dictionary, with audio pronunciation clips (most human-voiced) and a related language forum.

Greek

• see Greek (ancient)

ITALIAN

• Larousse Italian-English Dictionary — One of a collection of extensive bilingual dictionaries with entries that include associated phrases and idioms, each with sound files. To use, enter the Italian word or term you seek in the search box (top right). This dictionary, unlike some, allows you to search on any form of a word — person, tense, part of speech, etc. — and get a useful result, whether as a cross-reference (with audio pronunciation) to the main entry or among the sample sentences and phrases that the main entry provides.

Russian

• Russian Alphabet — Chart demonstrating pronunciation of Cyrillic letters through both phonetic spellings and audio samples.

SCOTS, scottish, & scottish Gaelic

• Online Scots Dictionary — Browsable and searchable (Scots-English/English-Scots) dictionary from Scots-Online.org. Index page includes helpful guides to spelling, phonetic symbols, and abbreviations used. (As they point out, this is NOT a Gaelic resource.)

• Shetland Dictionary: Pronunciation — Section of the browsable and searchable dictionary of words in the Shetland dialect of the islands at the northernmost point of Scotland, compiled by Shetland teacher and scholar John J. Graham.

• see also Dialect Map of Shetland

spanish

• Larousse Spanish-English Dictionary — One of a collection of extensive bilingual dictionaries with entries that include associated phrases and idioms, each with sound files. To use, enter the Spanish word or term you seek in the search box (top right). This dictionary, unlike some, allows you to search on any form of a word — person, tense, part of speech, etc. — and get a useful result, whether as a cross-reference (with audio pronunciation) to the main entry or among the sample sentences and phrases that the main entry provides.

• SpanishDict — Popular Spanish-language dictionary featuring extensive pronunciation resources for thousands of words. The Pronunciation page search box accesses human-voiced audio and video, and phonetic transcriptions, with options for Spanish (Castilian) and Latin American variations. Each word-entry includes an audio-video Example sentence. And perhaps most usefully, the Conjugation and Examples tabs below an entry’s title offer still more audio pronunciations when you hover your cursor over a word or phrase.

swedish

• Glosbe Swedish-English Dictionary —

TURKISH

•SEE Turkish under Middle Eastern

welsh

• Welsh-English / English-Welsh On-line Dictionary — Searchable two-way translation resource that provides phonetically rendered pronunciations and some audio clips.

Yiddish

• Yiddish Dictionary Online — Yiddish dictionary searchable by English equivalent of Yiddish word, romanized spelling of Yiddish word, or Yiddish word typed in Hebrew alphabet. Results provide basic phonetic spellings.

• Yiddish Glossary — Informal compilation by Yiddish-character performer, covering many common words and phrases, all with phonetic transcriptions and many with audio samples.

• Yiddish.co — Simply wonderful, wonderfully simple site providing a basic (41-item) wordlist of terms in this High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin. Subtitled “Learn Yiddish from a Real Bubbe,” the site further invites visitors: “If there’s a particular word or phrase that you’d like us to add, please email us and let us know.”

see also Yiddish under

Greek (ancient)

• AtticGreek.com: Ancient Greek Tutorials — U of C, Berkeley, instruction modules designed to assist textbook-based learning and focusing on ancient Greek pronunciation and accentuation features. Especially helpful are these modules, described and linked just below the opening paragraphs:  Pronunciation Guide; Pronunciation Practice; Accentuation Tutorial; and Accentuation Practice.

Latin

• How to Pronounce Latin — Page that describes pronunciation features of Ecclesiastical Latin — spoken since the 3^rd century AD, in contrast to supposed pre-3^rd-century Classical pronunciation.

• Latin Links & Resources — Collection of ecclesiastical Latin links compiled by Father Gary Coulter and extending from Latin courses and discussion groups to Latin dictionaries to additional collections of Latin language links.

• Latin Pronunciation Demystified (pdf) — Brief but highly instructive document on the four “rival” Latin pronunciation schemes, written by Michael A Covington, Ph.D., widely cited scholar in linguistics and computer engineering.

• Latin Pronunciation Files for Choirs — MP3 files of clearly articulated Latin pronunciation accompanying the texts (typically every 2-6 lines) of five common Catholic choral works: Ordinary (or Order) of the Mass, Requiem, Stabat Mater, Te Deum, and Magnificat.

• Wheelock’s Latin: Pronunciation Audio Files — Sound and word pronunciations, ancillary to the preeminent introductory Latin textbook Wheelock’s Latin. Sound files, with phonetic transcription and translation, are accessed per chapter, and no search function exists.

Middle Eastern

ARABIC

NOTE: Sites usually reflect the fact that Arabic is written from right to left and requires that Arabic script be copied in that direction.

• Arabic to English Dictionary — “Arabic to English dictionary [that] searches words in both directions at the same time.” What’s more, the dictionary often recognizes and searches based on English transcriptions (transliterations) of Arabic words. For example, a search on hayawaan, meaning “animal,” will yield these results —  <  حيوان (m) (Hayawaan) animal  > — allowing you to copy (carefully) the Arabic script and then to hear the word spoken by pasting it into a multi-language pronunciation search guide (such as Forvo.com) or into an Arabic-only pronunciation resource. NOTE: Remember that Arabic script is written, and must be copied, from right to left.

hebrew

• Chabad.org — Online site dating from 1988 and devoted to the Jewish community’s internet educational outreach efforts. Typing a term into the search box provides results including video and audio resources. (Be sure to click the More▼ option for possibilities.)

• Hear It in Hebrew — Listing of 140 videos on YouTube channel, providing “words and names in Hebrew with a modern Hebrew, Israeli pronunciation.” Use your browser’s Find function (CMD+F or CTRL+F) to locate a proper name and a family-related term. Section on Christmas isn’t searchable and therefore is hit-or-miss.

• Hebrew - Alphabet (Aleph-Beth) Transliteration and Pronunciation — A compact but useful one-page primer in Hebrew pronunciation; a “rough guide . . . sufficient to help understand the principles [of Hebrew grammar and the alphabet] and to follow the transliterations of different terms and understand how to use them.”

• Hebrew for Christians: Glossary — A fairly extensive database of Hebrew and some Yiddish words with phonetic renderings. Entries are English transliterations, rather than Hebrew script, and the main Glossary page offers a brief pronunciation guide.

• Learn Hebrew Phrases with Audio — Straightforward site designed to teach basic, useful Hebrew by way of 54 topics with 1,211 Hebrew phrases and sentences, in both Hebrew script and transliterations, with accompanying human-voiced audio. Most effectively used in conjunction with phonetic pronunciation guides such as the two preceding Hebrew sites.

TURKISH

• Turkish Pronunciation Guide — Brief and easy-to-use key to pronouncing letters and letter combinations in the Turkish language (which is written in the Latin alphabet).

Oceanian

MAori

• Māori Dictionary — Varied and thorough dictionary of the Maori language, provided by New Zealand’s Te Whanake Maori language resources organization. Each entry has sound files and additions are ongoing.

Tahitian

• Useful Tahitian Words and Phrases — Basic pronunciation guide to the sounds of Tahitian vowels and consonants, with phonetic spellings of common words and expressions. NOTE: Tahitian is closely related to Maori, about which more can be learned and heard in the entry above.

DIALECTS, ACCENTS, & GENERAL LANGUAGE SITES

Multiple Languages

• Accent Tips with Gareth Jameson — Series of 3-minute video mini-courses on accents from British actor and dialect coach Gareth Jameson, most from regions of current and former Commonwealth countries (Welsh, Cockney, South African) and a few from farther afield (German, New York, Russian, American Southern). Good resource for quick-and-dirty accent lessons focusing on salient pronunciation features.

• How to Do an Accent — Thirty-five video guides on accents and accent features ranging from Pittsburgh to Persia, presented by actor and voice/speech coach Andrea Caban on HowCast.com. Particularly useful in focusing not just on the listening to the sounds themselves but on engaging the muscles of articulation and other means of generating key sounds in each accent and dialect.

• Scripture Earth Resources — Evangelical Christian site comprising a searchable and browsable index of 600 languages (from 78 countries), many of which link to a page offering downloadable PDFs and MP3s of New Testament books (or chapters within them). Some pages link instead of or in addition to a sister site offering either both of these options or a combined reading-and-listening platform (Bible.is).

• StoryCorps — Ongoing oral history archive of more than 45,000 interviews with Americans from all walks of life. Browse the bilingual collection by category or search by keyword (e.g., region or states).

• SEE ALSO Omniglot

English

Worldwide

• IDEA (International Dialects of English Archives) — “Online archive of primary-source dialect and accent recordings for the performing arts” created by author-educator Paul Meier. “All recordings are in English, are of native speakers, and include both English language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages.” The site’s extensive Special Collections cover (with audio) topics such as Speech and Voice Disorders and General [or Standard] English.

• Sounds of New Zealand English — Recordings of a native English-speaking New Zealander voicing selected words to demonstrate common pronunciation features.

• Speech Accent Archive — Vast set of recordings of “speech accents from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English all read the same English paragraph,” with recordings accompanied by phonetic transcription. Multiple samples represent each language, varying by gender, age, region, and fluency. Browse by speaker or region, or use advanced search.

• Vincent Voice Library — Collection of 40,000+ hours of English-language speeches and broadcasts by over 100,000 world leaders, public figures, broadcast announcers, and private citizens around the world. Database records date from 1888 to the present and are searchable by keyword (e.g., event or place), name, or year.

United Kingdom

• Accents & Dialects — Section of the British Library’s “Sounds” collections, with audio from five major historical and sociolinguistic resources, available in their entirety or by browsing by county, date, or map.

• Sounds Familiar? — Compilation of 71 sound recordings and over 600 short audio clips from two British Library Sound Archive collections: the Survey of English Dialects and the Millennium Memory Bank. Special sections include in-depth looks at Received Pronunciation (regionally neutral accent), Geordie dialect (of the inhabitants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), and Minority Ethnic English.

• The Voices Recordings — Archived yet accessible collection of some 283 recordings from “the BBC Voices project[, which] provided a snapshot of the linguistic landscape of the UK at the start of the 21st century by encouraging members of the public to contribute their words and reflect on the language they use and encounter in their daily lives.” Of the original 300 recorded conversations, “250 are in English, 31 are in Scots, 10 are in Welsh, six in Scots Gaelic, three in Irish, three in Ulster Scots, and one each in Manx and Guernsey French.” Access via search or interactive map. An amazingly abundant resource.

North America

• Harvard Dialect Survey: Maps & Results — Useful resource that spotlights some key regional differences in pronunciation and usage across the United States. Responses from some 30,800 participants have been collated to show, through phonetic spelling, rhyming words, and color-coded maps, how selected words vary from region to region — for example, aunt (as in “ah” or “ant” or “caught” or “ain’t”); coupon (as in “coop” or “cute”); and grocery (as in “sock” or “shock”).

• A Lexicon of New Orleans Terminology and Speech — Fascinating page on the culture, colloquial usage, and pronunciation of New Orleans speech, created by a local from a self-professed bilingual family — “we spoke both English and New Orleans-ese.” Terms and idioms are listed alphabetically, and most include pronunciation notes.

• Meet Mama Lola (Louisiana: Haitian American) — Video of New Orleans Voodoo high priestess Mama Lola, an excellent illustration of Haitian-accented English.

• North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns — Massively detailed interactive map charting American English dialects throughout the continent. Clicking on most cities or towns yields a table of audio and video samples of representative native speakers. Many map annotations and insets, as well as supplemental materials, are also helpful.

• Pittsburgh Speech & Society — Site created by University of Pittsburgh linguists, devoted to the city’s distinctive dialect and including many recorded samples and described pronunciation features.

• Tejano Voices — Oral history project site containing more than 175 English-language recordings of Mexican Americans from throughout the state of Texas.

• SEE ALSO American Languages; and TIPS, TRICKS, TACTICS for methods that can yield excellent results, such as the “Oral History” search.

North American Cultures (non-English)

Gullah

• Gullah Language: Hear-and-Read Gullah — Informal phonetic renderings of three texts (the Lord’s Prayer, the 23^rd Psalm, and M.L. King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”), with audio files of each in the English-based, creolized Gullah language originated by slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and the coastal Sea Islands.

• Gullah Tales — Video animations accompany Professional storyteller character Aunt Pearlie Sue (the creation of Anita Singleton-Prather, historian and native of the Sea Islands in Beaufort County, South Carolina) as she tells three folk and fairy tales in both English- and Gullah-language versions, with basic English-language text accompanying simple animations. English-language captioning available.

• SEE ALSO Glossary of Gullah Words

European (non-English)

dutch

• SEE Hear Dutch Here

French

• How to Fake a French Accent — Pointers on speaking English with a French inflection, directed at English-speaking Americans and offered by the long-time Web resource About.com. The content is more reliable than the cheesy title implies.

scots

• Dialect Map of Shetland — Clickable map of the Shetland Islands, northernmost area of Scotland and, indeed, the UK, with sound files of individuals representing 18 island localities.

• Scots Language Centre — Site dedicated to promoting the Scots language, featuring a wide variety of audio samples of ten major Scots regional dialects.

• SEE ALSO The Voices Recordings

Yiddish

• SEE Yiddish language under European (non-English)

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE WORKS

Dictionaries & Translators (human-voiced)

• AlphaDictionary — Impressive database of dictionaries and glossaries for some 300 world languages. Clicking on a country from the list yields linked language resources that, in turn, produce rollover annotations useful in sorting and selection. Note: Despite some dead links, this collection holds too many benefits to ignore.

• Collins English Dictionary — Exceptional English-language dictionary, spanning nearly 200 years and offering British and American audio pronunciations (where differences occur) and, when appropriate. The Collins site also has seven other bilingual dictionaries, between English and French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Hindi.

• Dictionary.com — Extensive reference work based on Random House Dictionary and including results from several other major dictionaries (e.g., Collins, as World English Dictionary). Features pronunciation sound files as well as both IPA and less complex phonetic spellings.

• Merriam-Webster.com — Definitive American-English pronunciation resource for audiobook publishers, with human-voiced audio pronunciations as well as phonetic transcriptions. In addition to its general-reference content, the site includes an extensive Law Dictionary and Medical Dictionary. Terms from both of these appear, when relevant, in the main dictionary’s search results, as well as by searching or browsing from their respective main pages.

Linguistic Tools

• Google Translate — Simple to–from translation tool for 76 languages, from the familiar search engine company. Not considered authoritative by itself, but can be useful in combination with other resources.

• Interactive IPA Sounds — Interactive charts featuring audio samples that accompany written labels and descriptions of each of the sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), from eminent dialect coach Paul Meier.

• IPA Reader — “This is a tool for reading International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) notation aloud. It makes it easy to actually hear how words are pronounced based on their phonetic spelling, without having to look up each character in the IPA chart and string the sounds together yourself.”

TIPS, TRICKS, TACTICS

• Call an ethnic restaurant.

• Call embassies, consulates, or national airlines. (Embassy.org has a page for each embassy in Washington, D.C., and many pages have links to consular and other offices throughout the U.S.)

• Call public offices or libraries in a region for pronunciation of place-names and prominent local persons. City and county non-emergency phone centers can be very helpful. Operators or dispatchers are usually happy to answer your question — and answer it briefly! Also, they’re available 24/7.

• Search Google or other search engines using the following format:   word + pronounce

• Calling a business phone number that appears in web search results will usually yield a person, answering machine, or voicemail that provides the correct pronunciation of the personal or company name you seek.

• Working late? Call bars or taverns for local place-name pronunciations (or for entertainment).

• Search for < Oral History + state or region > to find a variety of audio interviews of regional speakers, many from decades-old archives. Notable examples include the Montana Memory Project, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Oral History Collection, the University of Southern Mississippi Oral History Digital Collection, and StoryCorps.

• Search YouTube or Google Videos. Pronunciations for difficult-to-locate place-names can often be found in local news story results from a search such as < _____ Avenue accident > or < _____ School news at 5 >. For a person’s name, try < _____ speech > or < _____ award > and similar expressions.

• Search NPR for audio of relevant interviews to get pronunciations. [NOTE: Don’t assume interviewer/announcer pronunciations are authoritative, as they sometimes definitely are not.]

• Search BBC as for NPR above.

• Search Wikipedia for general information (sometimes pronunciations or non-roman scripts), ESPECIALLY an article’s “External Sites” list, which is likely to provide more useful and authoritative resources.

• Look for forums associated with cultural or language sites — even if the sites themselves haven’t provided answers, their followers tend to respond quite willingly and reliably.

Ꙩ How to Use AudioEloquence Ꙩ
(cont’d)

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