Hey Alan - You are always a terrific resource - and very much missed this year at the AudioFile picnic!

I am fond of calling up libraries in a specific locale - and there might be a public library in the vicinity of reservations in the Dakotas for your recording, Linda. Librarians are very happy to be asked questions about their localities these days as most people go to the web.

I am working on a recording about Dolphin communication and have gone straight to the source: the author - for scientific pronunciations. This has the added benefit of finding out about eco-tourism possibilities for my dolphin-loving daughter!

Linda…
I haven’t the slightest idea where I’d go to get pronunciation coaching for the Sioux language. It’s not what I do for a living. I read more mainstream books … books on the NY Times best seller list, etc.

You might contact a Berlitz office. They might be able to point you in a right direction. You might contact the US Army. I know that during WW2 the Army used Navajo speakers to transmit messages in the Pacific Theatre so the Japanese would not be able to understand the transmissions.

You have learned to not reveal the book you are working on to a Sioux language coach.

How about googling “Sioux language coaching?” How about exploring the Voice Of America (VOA) website? They offer pronunciations of hundreds of world figures in the news. Email Robin Whitten, the founder/owner of AudioFile magazine and ask her if she can point you to a teacher (www.audiofilemagazine.com).

There must be a museum or National Monument or park dedicated to the Sioux up in South Dakota. Custer’s last stand and all that. Perhaps the museum director could help. I’m otherwise baffled.

Best Wishes and Much Good Luck. If I think of anything else, I’ll email you.
Most Cordially, Alan

Alan, You and I have the same routine. I feel validated, just because I now know that other audiobook recorders work as hard as me.

I have 50 thousand college students in my town, and have always been lucky enough to find a "native" speaker, for my recordings. It has always been the "joy" of my life, to work with my tutors. My Russian tutor told me that I would not make a good spy. I loved her.

I have recorded in 19 different languages. However, I have run into a brick wall with the Lakota Sioux language. I had Jim Greene all lined up to help me. Jim is the Chief of the Sioux Tribe. He and his wife were more than happy to help me with the language, until they found out the title of the book that I needed to record. The Sioux people do not like the book. They think that it is too Hollywood, and not a good "real life" depiction of life, as a Sioux Indian, during the time of American's birth.

Although I understand their negative feelings towards this book, I also have an obligation to record this book for the public schools.

I am telling you all of this information, hoping that you can help me connect with a Lakota Sioux speaker who would help me with a "total" of 40 words OR phrases. 40 is such a small number, to me, and yet that 40 is a brick wall. I cannot record the book until I can get a native speaker to help me.

Can you, with all of your connections, help me??? Please respond to my request, even if it is bad news.

On the side, I have found the website, FORVO. They do the Lakota language, but so far, they have only been able to pronounce ONE word for me. Urdu, Ibo, and Korean were easier to find than the Sioux language. Can you help me???? I hope so.

In friendship,
Linda Naylor
lsnaylor@gmail.com

really great resources! some I had but some I did not - thanks so much for sharing!Love your work Alan:)

Alan, this is really a wonderful article. I'm sharing it around the narrator circles! You turned me on to some new pronunciation sites. I'll return the favor by offering a couple of sites I use: forvo.com (words from many foreign languages, with audio pronunciations) and inogolo.com (English pronunciations).

Alan - Your description of your preparation for performing the complex words and phrases in "The Ghosts of Cannae" is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing it!

Alan - Really helpful to narrators and listeners! Thanks for that.
Looking forward to listening to that book. Your work ... always great. Well done.

I'm impressed, Alan. Really impressed, as I don't know whether I would have had the patience for that. It takes a "New Yorker Go N Get Em" attitude to survive that one. And that's you. Nice work.

Great article, Alan - quite informative. My hat is tipped to you and others who take on such work. It's overly painstaking. That's the reason why I have no desire to narrate books. Short scripts are challenging enough with pronunciation issues.

I doubt if listeners have any idea how much homework goes into narrating a book with unusual names. I am in the process of recording a very old version of the Bible that predates even the King James Version. My vocabulary list is at twenty-eight pages and growing!
Great article, Alan.