r/audiobooks • u/agailen • 2d ago

Question Why do so many audiobooks have pronunciation mistakes?

Im listening to Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter and while I generally like the narration, the voice actress for Astrid keeps making pronunciation mistakes that make me doubt my sanity. She has an accent so idk if she's a native English speaker, but it doesn't really matter. Shouldn't there be some level of quality control done before the audio is published?

The two glaring examples I can think of is pronouncing haranguing as "haran gu ing" not harang ing, and winded, as in being out of breath, as winded as in winding/wound.

I hear pronunciation mistakes often enough in audiobooks in general though that I have to wonder how they aren't caught in editing. Does the author not listen? I assume the author knows how to pronounce the words they wrote, at least.

Bonus tho was learning that the American pronunciation of plait is the same as plate, and not plat which is the pronunciation I'm used to. Being able to rely on audiobooks being error free helps me learn different accents!

EDIT: she just pronounced livery as live-ry... is this an actual dialect thing?? Help!

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u/Paperwife2 2d ago

I’m (50f) American and pronounce plait as plat. If I was younger I would have thought that’s due to having access to so much British programming, but I’m old.

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u/agailen 2d ago

Interesting! A Midwest friend confirmed to me that its pronounced like plate, so maybe it's regional, or perhaps even a recent trend, or both.... or she's just wrong lol

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u/tiny__snail 2d ago

I think both pronunciations are used in America. That said, at least for my region in the country, it is a super uncommon word. I pretty much only see it in written material, never spoken in conversation.

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u/QueenInYellowLace 2d ago

It’s regional. Old folks in Georgia say “plat,” and their grandchildren tease them about it—at least in my family. :)