VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Bish

There's been some recent discussion about mispronunciation and lazy diction, and it made me think about an issue that often comes up in my house (I'm the Brit in a nest of Colonials). There are certain words that have become corrupted in the vernacular... and while I'm perfectly happy to accept the argument that language is a living thing, there are a couple that give me cause for concern. By that I mean I'm not sure of the expectation of a US production when they ask for a Brit voice. Do they want the British pronunciation as well... I would assume so (especially if they're looking for R Hobo Happy

.

Solder - pronounced "sodder". What have you got against that poor old "L".
Caramel - pronounced "carmel". I'm seeing the incorrect spelling creep into everything as well. Carmel is a mountain, a town or a name, not a soft candy!
Herb - pronounced "erb". This one's tricky and has been known to start bar fights.
Aluminium - aluminum ... OK, I'll give you that one. You took the trouble to change the spelling as well.

There are plenty of others, but what is the expectation here? I've used "solder" in conversation and people go out of their way to correct me.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

bobsouer · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:01 am Post subject:

Peter,

I'll confess to having never heard the UK pronunciation of solder, but the rest I am familiar with. I wouldn't get into a fight with anyone over any of those pronunciations, especially not with Herb. He's a big guy and I'm not sure I can take him.

I suspect this is one of those situations where you need to ask to be sure what the client expects, but if it's a US company marketing to the US, the US pronunciations are likely to be desired.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I all of those cases except for Herb, it's a matter of American inability to pronounce a letter L that touches the teeth. In Georgia, the L is completely silent for the most part, and the tongue is generally slack and at the back of the mouth and the lower jaw does not open.
_________________
Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

Bish · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:28 am Post subject:

Interesting...

Caramel/carmel
howjsay.com gives "carAmel"
forvo.com gives both
dictionary.reference.com gives "carAmel" & "carEmel"

Solder/sodder
howjsay.com gives "soLder"
forvo.com gives both
dictionary.reference.com gives "sodder"

So how about "Soldier" ... there seems to be no tendency to go with "soddier" ... a place more soddy or someone who lays sods maybe Smile

It's a minefield!
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

bobsouer · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:47 am Post subject:

Peter,

Two great nations separated by a common language. (Not original with me, but I can't remember who said it.)
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

Bish · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:55 am Post subject:

That one (I think) was George Bernard Shaw paraphrasing Oscar Wilde's "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language."

Which brings up another one... is it the British "BERNard", or the US "BerNARD" Smile

I know... all bets are off with names.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:22 am Post subject:

To the American ear, many British pronunciations sound more "distinguished" than our Yank versions. In my opinion, the one exception is "garage." The British "GARE-idge" sounds more harsh than our more elegant "guh-RAHJ."
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Bruce · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:02 am Post subject:

I'm tickled by British cooking shows where it's BAZ-ul instead of BAY-sul and or-ay-GAH-no instead of o-RAY-gah-no.

But the one that mystifies me totally is how you get leff-TEN-unt out of a word spelled lieutenant. I keep looking and I don't see an F in there anywhere.

B
_________________
VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:20 am Post subject:

Bish · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:33 am Post subject:

I've got to agree that the US garage is a tad more pleasing to the ears.

How about "router"?
(for either directing internet traffic or hacking lumps out of wood)
I used to work in IT, and it's an extremely common issue between techs.

I say "ROOter"
I get told the correct US way is "ROWTer"
I say, "Ah, just like in the American song - 'Get my kicks, own ROWT 66'"

Exit, pursued by a bear.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

Moe Egan · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:40 am Post subject:

Route is a regional thing. Some places (New England) say 'root', others say 'rout' (like out). When ever I have copy with 'route' in it I always ask the client their preference.
_________________
Moe Egan
i want to be the voice in your head.
~~~~~

Deirdre · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:40 am Post subject:

Process.

In England it's PROE-sess.

Here, it's PRAH-sess.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:56 pm Post subject:

Being a New Englander, I pronouce "route" as "ROOT."
However, being a woodworker and a computer geek, I pronounce "router" as "RAOW-ter."
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Gareth · Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:38 am Post subject:

Funny, I was just talking to someone about this the other day following the thread regarding how to pronounce two-thousand-ten/two-thousand-AND-ten/twenty-ten/two-oh-one-oh.

One that gets me is "speciality".
British would be spesh-ee-ality.
Whereas U.S. would be spesh-alty.

Which led me to ask about "reality" as in "virtual reality".
Is that re-al-ity or ree-alty, following the "speciality" example?..

Never mind. You say toh-MAY-toh, I say toh-MAH-toh. Lets call the whole thing off.

Edit for spooling error

Darren Altman · Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:31 am Post subject:

I'm LOLing at this thread - being a Londoner!

What about

US = VITE-amins
UK - VIT-amins

US = PRAH-grams
UK = PROE-grams

US = ALOO-minum
UK = ALU-minium
_________________
https://www.darrenaltman.com/
http://twitter.com/darrenaltman