I was looking at the Cool Software community website where members post information about new software companies and then vote on whether or not they like it. One of the websites they identified as “cool” was called Forvo. The site’s mission: to collect the proper pronunciations from across the globe in It was built in 2007 and is slowly growing in popularity, with over 189 languages represented. After recent debates with some of my Canadian friends on the proper way to pronounce words like pasta, milk, and pillow, I’m not sure it can solve the arguments among native speakers but it will give foreigners the opportunity to save themselves from a lot of grief.

Though I have never sunk ships, I was asked to learn Spanish during my service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Those first few months taught me the importance of properly conjugating and then pronouncing words.

During a small intermission between church meetings one day, I saw a close friend of mine dressed up in a new suite. I was surrounded by elderly women chatting quietly and I couldn’t get out from between the benches so I raised my voice and said, “Wilbur you look really sharp (sharp=look nice) in that suite!”… At least, that’s what I thought I said.

From the looks of horror on the women’s faces and the bright red color of my friend’s, I quickly realized that I was mistaken. What I had actually done was loudly tell my friend that he looked like a prostitute, using very very bad term in Spanish, in the middle of worship services, surrounded by old ladies! The point of the story is that to some this may seem like a neat tool, but for others, like me, it’s a Godsend, even if it is a few years late in getting here.

Anyone else have horror stories about learning a new language?