HowJSay.com - An English Pronouncing Dictionary

The English language is notorious for being difficult to pronounce—not so much in the way of guttural sounds or rolling R’s or even unspeakable consonances but rather in the divide between spelling and actual pronunciation. HowJSay, however has come to help sort out English sounds. HowJSay, you see is a pronouncing dictionary which uses Instant Sound. Say you want to know how to say Cheerio, type in the term in the search bar and mouse over it to hear it pronounced. American and British spellings are provided along with variations in pronunciations; however regional accents aren’t provided, solely mainstream sounds that enjoy current usage. There’s no profane or vulgar language listed for the sake of children learners.

“Enter the word you want and when it appears in pink, mouse over it to hear it spoken as often as you want. Each word is individually pre-recorded and no form of synthetic speech is used.
Both American and British spellings are provided.
Pronunciation is in Standard British English, with World English alternatives.”

HowJSay is a remarkably useful and informative source. English language learners all over the world will appreciate its attention to detail, its alternative ways of pronunciation, and its consideration of its audience. The site has put together an simple to use pronunciation guide that doesn’t favor one way of speaking over another.

There’s sure to be controversy over some pronunciations. For example, the word controversy—the American accentuation seems now to be favored over that of the British, yet some will see it as a phonetic desecration. Besides that though, how often is the site updated? How will people get to know about it?