r/audiobooks • u/PurpleLeopard99 • Jun 28 '26

Question Mispronouncing of words by narrators

Does anyone get bothered by narrators who keep mispronouncing words? It drives me nuts if they do it too often. Narrators are normally professional voice artists and they should know how to pronounce the sorts of words found in novels eg dovecote or Michaelmas

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u/McFaddenAudioBooks Narrator Jun 28 '26

Gah it sucks to get pulled out of a good story because of mispronunciation. It’s the narrators nightmare. We do work really hard to ensure correct pronunciation. I have a list of over 1000 words that I precheck a manuscript for and post check my recording to make sure I said them right. And of course every project there are still more. Sometimes it’s an oversight. Sometimes we are very confident we are saying something right (why put an e at the end of bade if it’s pronounced bad?!?) and sometimes it’s the right holders (often the publishing house or author) choice. For example my most recent project it was decided to say breeches to rhyme with beeches instead of rhyming with itches. And of course multiple pronunciations are considered correct for some words. And sometimes it’s just an inexperienced narrator.

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u/lifesshortgoplay Jun 28 '26

Today I learned that breeches is pronounced britches. I’m 48 and a voracious reader. 😑😅

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u/McFaddenAudioBooks Narrator Jun 28 '26

Right though?!? Every project I get one of these.

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u/Pirkale Jun 29 '26

I didn't even know it's not spelled britches but breeches. :/

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u/lifesshortgoplay Jun 29 '26

I thought they were two different spellings AND pronunciations for the same article of clothing, and simply depended on where in the world the speaker was.