Forvo: - a Wikipedia for pronunciation.

As a social site Forvo has advantages over other 'pronunciation' sites (I've included other in previous eMagazines).

Here...

• anyone can request a word be pronounced
• anyone can go ahead and pronounce it.

Registered users of the site can then vote on the best pronunciations for each word.

A Forvo search shows all the pronunciations; there is only one "standard pronunciation" - the one with the most votes.

• You can vote down a pronunciation if...
  
  • you think it's wrong,
  • the sound quality is bad or
  • the pronouncer is not a native English speaker (requests are that you only pronounce words in your native tongue, this doesn't seem to prevent some people)

Downside: -

• If a word that's new to the dictionary you can't judge, by votes, whether the pronunciation is accurate.
• Inconsistent sound quality.
• Currently a Small number of words in the dictionary (6,967 words 7,243 pronunciations 178 languages at time of writing)
• Potential for abuse

Advantages: -

• Anyone can request a word be pronounced (http://www.forvo.com/word-add/)
• People with different accents can record a pronunciation (greater diversity)
• Contains many languages (http://www.forvo.com/languages/)
• Voting mechanism means it should become more reliable
• Tagging means users can search or browse by tag
• Browsable categories (http://www.forvo.com/tag-list/)
• Listen to how other people say things.
• Contribute
• Easy web-based recording (you just need is a microphone).

Go to http://www.forvo.com/ to find out more.