The temperature has dropped. Not to freezing, but enough to have a sweater handy. I thought about mowing. But I needed to find a tasty recipe for tonight's meal. So far I have failed to find one that speaks to me and the thawing chicken in my sink.
HeWho just strolled through and placed a blanket on my legs and told me to stay inside, out of the wind. I must obey him, right? I can hear the windchimes even with the windows closed, so I already knew the wind was strong. I thought I might warm up pushing the mower while listening to a book.
I am listening to The First Lady by James Patterson. His books never disappoint. The narrator is a different story. I listen to a lot of books and there are good ones, mediocre ones and really bad ones. Some of them just read the words, with no voice inflection at all. If I have read the author previously and really like their work, I can plow through and use my own imagination. Most times, though, I will just return the book and start on another. I get them from the library, so it's not like I paid for them.
Well known authors generally have good narrators and I can't imagine that anyone proofed this performance before releasing it. She was okay with voice inflection, but mispronounced some words that really make her seem simple minded. Drove me a little crazy. I was mowing and every time she mispronounced a word I would yell out the correct pronunciation. I did have some people look at me as they drove by and I am sure they though I was a little on the crazy side.
She must not be a history buff, as she pronounced Potomac as "potta-mack". See what I mean? That word is in the book a lot. The first lady rides a horse and she really mangled that one. I am not even sure what she was trying to say, but the way she said it, it had too many vowels. Without actually seeing the word I couldn't be sure, but I think it might have been Arapahoa. She said "air-a-pa-ho-a" with the emphasis on a different syllable at times. I think it must have ended in "a" because she said it, but it was probably a silent "a".
Maybe I am being too critical? But, if someone was paying me to read the book aloud, I would have a dictionary close at hand for words I was unfamiliar with ….. or I would ask someone! So now I am wondering how much this job pays. I can read aloud and it would be a fun job. Of course I would read the entire book before I attempted to read it aloud. I would do a little research to make sure I was pronouncing all the words correctly, and I would definitely have someone listen to it before I submitted my work for publication. But, maybe that's just me!
7 comments:
Were you being funny when you titled this "pronounciation"? I noticed that you used the word "pronunciation" later.....
I listen to audio books too. The reader certainly plays an important part in enjoyment, or lack of it, of the books. I LOVE
Louise Penny's books. It really hurt when her original reader died after. Reading a number of her books. It took some getting used to a new person. Good authors pay attention to readers. On the other hand, I know of a lady who wrote a couple of books I really like. Talk
about disappointment when I heard her read her own book!!! Maybe you could read books between all that mowing and painting?
? The only word I can think of (because I'm all about trying to solve a mystery pronunciation without actually hearing it) is "Arapaho." Like the Native American tribe. But it doesn't end in an "a".
My boys both made pronunciation faux pas at times, being avid readers, but lackadaisical listeners. The Pony declared that robins were HAR-BRINGERS of spring. And Genius called moccasins "muh COSS ins".
I don't listen to audio books, I'd rather read the words for myself. Mispronunciations bug the heck out of me, but there are some words I don't know how to pronounce. Luckily I'm not an e-book narrator. I think they should be tested before being allowed to read aloud, and mispronunciations corrected.
That would drive me crazy. I also feel my teeth grit when a new reporter mispronounces street names. Although I can usually excuse that more than I could those bold errors in an audio book.
I wonder about pronunciations especially when I hear a talking head or someone on the radio pronounce a word differently than the way I think it should be pronounced. who's right? perhaps I've mispronounced the word all my life.
I once listened to mechanical voices, for fun. I think it was Sherlock Holmes stories. Very interesting. That was years ago. I bet mechanical voices for books have improved a lot. The voice for our GPS gets almost everything right.
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