Ray Saintonge wrote:
Jaap van Ganswijk wrote:
Unlike what is possible in a paper encyclopedium, why not add a small wav file of someone pronouncing the word correctly?
This is a much better idea than most attempts at divining pronunciation into a strange set of symbols including highly accepted sets such as IPA. The .wav file would, of course, be by a native speaker of the language. It could also be a vehicle for understanding the precise manner in which Americans don't speak English.
There would still be room for making written explanations about words that are not pronounced in an intuitive manner, such as "mnemosyne" and "more" when used to refer to a custom.
Ah, but WHICH prononciation of an English language word? American? English? Australian? Canadian? The correct official dictionary version often varies by country, and what people actually say is even more widely different.
Actually, this would be a good addition to the page on international language differences... instead of just seeing that the Yanks say a-LOOM-in-um and the rest of the world prefers al-u-MIN-e-um you could hear it and it might make more sense...