[Wikipedia-l] Pronunciation guides (Was Re: Oliver is Lir II [...])

[Brion VIBBER]

Oliver Pereira wrote:
> Indications of native pronunciations would be very useful. Is there
> support for displaying all the standard IPA characters...?

You can use HTML-style character references with the Unicode numbers for 
IPA chars, but not everyone will be able to read them. (If someone wants 
to put up mini images, it may be worthwhile.)

In some articles, SAMPA is used, which is an ASCIIfied IPA, but this is 
somewhat controversial as no one knows how to read it even though it 
appears right on everyone's screen. ;)  If you use a SAMPA transcription 
in an article, you'll probably want to link [[SAMPA]] for reference.

Pseudo-English pronunciation guides (Paris->"pah-REE", Goethe->"GER-ta") 
are generally not recommended, as the results may vary widely for native 
English speakers, be useless for non-native English speakers, and often 
do a poor job at reproducing the necessary sounds. They remain somewhat 
popular largely because native English speakers are often not familiar 
with IPA.

 > And I like your
> idea of linked sound files, too. (It would be quite a task, though!)

Yes, by all means make and upload sound files of pronunciations of 
names! Please do! (Preferably OGG format at a lower bitrate.)

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)