We know how important it is to have correct pronunciation for your commercial and business endeavours, so we’ve upgraded our Pronunciation Editor to allow you even more control. This feature now allows you the option of using phonetic characters to correct or improve on the pronunciation of any word for any language. This can be essential for accommodating words with non-typical spelling, fictional place names, or unique given names.
From the Library, click on ‘Pronunciation Editor’ from the left side panel. Depending on the voice, you can either use Word Substitution or Edit Phonemic Characters. All voices work with Word Substitution, but not all are able to use the Edit Phonemic Character option.
After opening the Pronunciation Editor, you can manage your current P.E. records or create new ones.
Word Substitution
After opening the Pronunciation Editor settings from the Library menu, click on ‘Create New’ and select ‘Word Substitution’.
Under ‘Original Text’, enter the word or phrase you want replaced. Under ‘Pronounced As’, enter the word or phrase you want to replace it with. This is just simple word substitution so the voices will simply try to read text entered out phonetically based on the language that particular voice is designed for. You may need to adjust the spelling until you get the results you want and you can listen to your results by clicking ‘Play’. When you’re satisfied, click ‘OK’ to save.
Some voices may read text differently from others so be sure to test with the intended voice you will be using. By default the P.E. will play using your most recent voice, but you can click on the voice name or language from the top right to change it to a different voice. This will only change what voice you’re testing the P.E. edit with; this will not affect the voice settings when the P.E. setting applies in your Files or Projects.
You can also select which Project(s) to apply the P.E. setting to. Click on the Project name and use the drop-down menu to select a different Project or to apply to all Projects. Click ‘Create’ to save.
Edit Phonemic Characters
Not all voices support using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) characters for the P.E. settings. After opening the Pronunciation Editor settings from the Library menu, click on ‘Create New’ and select ‘Edit Phonemic Characters’.
The word or phrase you want replaced goes under ‘Original Text’. Then, enter the transcription of how you want that word or phrase to be pronounced using IPA under ‘Pronounced As’. You can also click on ‘Phonemic Chart Keyboard’ to open an IPA keyboard in a new tab to help you with your transcription.
Click ‘Play’ to listen to your results and when you’re done, click ‘Create’ to save. You can also select which Project(s) to apply the P.E. setting to. Click on the Project name and use the drop-down menu to select a different Project or to apply to all Projects.
Management and Quick Access
Open the Pronunciation Editor from the Library menu to play, edit, delete, or transfer P.E. records.
Click the folder to transfer the P.E. record to another Project, selected from the drop-down menu.
While working from the Reader Editor page, you can also quickly access the Pronunciation Editor or the Online Sync settings in the top right of the page.
*P.E. settings are case-sensitive, so you may have to make additional entries for capitalized/non-capitalized versions of a given word.
*Guy, Donald, Barry, Andrew, Jessa, Carole, Felicia, and Erica cannot be modified using the Edit Phonemic Characters option.
*If you need help transcribing with IPA, dictionaries usually include IPA or search the word on Dictionary.com. There are also other online resources that can transcribe for you like toPhonetics.