The VOICE OVER MISTAKE CHART

Pronunciation Mistakes

GENERAL

• The BIGGEST mistake is NOT tailoring your pronunciation to the demographic of the listener and the intent of the script. So find out who the script is for, where it will be heard, and for what reason it will be heard.

WHEN CLARITY IS NECESSARY, ARTICULATE CLEARLY

(for language tutorials, museum guided tours, international airline videos, and so on)

• “Internet” and “international” – pronounce the first “t”
  example: “Welcome aboard our International flight to...”
• “government” and “environment” – pronounce the “n”
  example: “Click to learn more about our government.”
• “mountain” – pronounce the “t”
  example: “This is this mountain range known as K2. It peaks over...”

WHEN INFORMALITY IS PREFERABLE, SPEAK COLLOQUIALLY

• “Internet” and “international” – do NOT pronounce the first “t”
  example: “Want the fastest Internet? Then you gotta call us at...”
• “government” and “environment” – do NOT pronounce the “n”
  example: “Government shmovernment... let’s talk BK’s big beef burger!”
• “mountain” – do NOT pronounce the “t”
  example: “Up here in the mountains, we love Coors Beer.”

COMMON MISTAKES

• “often” – do not pronounce the “t” (you wouldn’t say “soften”, would you?)
• “probably” – pronounce the “ab” in the middle (“probly” is usually too slurred)
• “February” – do not pronounce the “r” in the middle (“FebRUary” is usually too exact)
• “comfortable” – do not pronounce the “or” in the middle (or it will sound too exact)
• “particularly” – pronounce each syllable (rather than "par-tic-ally")
• “where” – do not make the “h” sound at the beginning (that is an “old-school” style)

DON'T SOUND LIKE YOU'RE READING

• “the” – pronounce this word with a soft “e” (unless the following word begins with a vowel)
• “a” – pronounce this word with a soft “a" (or it will sound too exact)