Some people just can't be pleased

Bob Bair · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 274

So I'm in the middle of this big job full of a couple hundred scripts that they are giving me in dribs and drabs hot off the editors desk. (I think their editor is 8 years old by the way the scripts look when I get them) The company thinks I'm spending too much time finding the proper pronunciation of names and just wants me to read it as I think it is, yet wants me to correct it when it's wrong! Sorry, I just don't know of the top of my head how to pronounce:

Abú Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni
Ma'mun Khawarazmshah in the city of Jurjaniyya
Eratosthenes
Doménikos Theotokópoulos
etc...

Now I'm able to track these down eventually (a couple of great books, some websites and recommendations from this forum and others at VO-BB) and I'm letting them know I am spending my time doing this yet they consider this a waste of my time! Yet they had me redo one because I mispronounced a name! SHEESH!

Kara Edwards · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 347

This is exactly why I'm so thankful I sound like a perpetual 15 year old...no one will ever ask me to say those names! Phew!

Good luck Bob, this one's a doosy!

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

Bob --
That IS a headache. I had a job where I had to read in English, but it was interspersed with lots of French names, quotes, places, etc. But at least I have some background in French. Still, I needed to take time to make sure the pronunciations were correct. My client was wonderful and gave me all the time I needed.
If they knew you did not have any background in Middle Eastern languages when they hired you, then they should be grateful you are taking the time to do it right!

Joe Rodriguez · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007, 15:04 (GMT) Post subject:

Robert,

Do they pay you for re-takes? If so, perhaps you should give the name your best guess and let them worry about whether you got it right. If not, they pay for another take, no?

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

Wouldn't it be simpler all the way around if they simply supplied you with pronunciation guides whenever they include one of these names in a script? (yeah, right.)

I just did a job this morning that included some medical terms (etiology, serotonergic, serotonin, postsynaptically, neurotransmitters) but fortunately, it was just the scratch track so there's still time to make corrections if they're necessary. Of course, there's also time for the client to hire a different VO person to record the finished product.

Bob Bair · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 274

Joe,
No extra pay for re-takes. This was my first stab at a really big job that was more than just a couple days of work.

Lesson learned!

Lee,
Yup, I've asked them for pronunciation guides. For some reason they consider that unnecessary. Rolling Eyes

I think they are having someone else translate the scripts then edit them for me. They probably don't want to pay anymore for the terrible editing service they are presently getting.

Yesterday one of the scripts was about Simon Bolivar. According to my script, "Rebel leader Simon Bolivar was elected President of the United State."
Direct quote from the script. Not even States, State. I'm rewriting history here! I told them they need new editors, ones that know some basic sentence structure and 3rd grade history.

Bettye Zoller · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Aug 2003 Posts: 163

A long time ago, a wise older agent told me this: "Before you leave a session, always say to the client, 'let's replay my voiceover narration here and I'll wait while we listen. Then, you can be certain everything is as it should be. OK?'"

The reason for doing this is simple: Then, if the clients ask you later to do a redo, that is NOT an unpaid redo. It is a paid job. When you're doing a job as was explained here by Bob...and oh, do I feel for you...it should have been set "in front" that all pronunciations are given phonetically to you and then, on the phone, you run all the hard words past the producer or writer on phone BEFORE recording a script. That's the time they could have corrected you free of charge. After that call, a redo is a paid one. Hope this helps...and no one should EVER have to take their valuable time to look up words when it is someone else's script and job to do that clerk-type work!! Pros do NOT do that! But you learned...yes? It's happened to me too...live and learn! And remember: "the first time, shame on you...the second time I make that same mistake, shame on ME!"

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007, 21:16 (GMT) Post subject:

I've recently started my most gratifying gig doing the sponsor liners for Atlanta's NPR station and have immediately run into the occasional oddball name that I'm clurless about, despite my best attempts to portray some aura of culture (much like a fine yogurt). I've had to ask the contact person at the station to PLEASE get the acct execs to phonetically spell out ANY suspect names. It's a learning curve for all of us.

God bless ya, Bob. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes on this one!

Allen Brown · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007, 21:44 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's my policy regarding the almost inevitable corrections/changes on narrations. This works very well for me and my clients seem to appreciate it, too:

"The price above includes two minor fixes (re-records/corrections) at no charge with additional fixes charged at $___ each within 30 days of the recording. Fixes after 30 days will be priced as a new production."

If the client knows upfront that there will be a charge for fixes, they get much more meticulous about providing pronunciation guides.

My heart goes out to you, too, Bob...that looks like a 'friggin' mess they handed you.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007, 21:46 (GMT) Post subject:

Oh yeah, and recently I had to learn how to correctly pronounce Mahmoud Ahmadinijad's name for a recurring spot. THAT was fun. Ugh.

Randy Stewart

Bob Bair · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 274

As Bette stated, live and learn. Unfortunately pronouncing complex names has always been a bane of mine.

To add salt to the wound, they are obviously translations of scripts done in another language. Then supposedly read over by an editor and reviewed. I'm guessing the editor is 8 years old and English isn't their primary language. At least that's how the copy reads.

Basically when adding in the time finding the proper pronunciations, fixing glaring mistakes in translation, reading and re-reading because there is no flow to the sentences therefore I stumble on them a bit, each script that is about 400 words is taking me on average 1 hour to complete.

This is me doing it in the most efficient way I can come up with. Sit and work through 4-5 scripts, then go record, then edit those. I'm sure there are many out there that could do it in much less time but this is the best I can do.

Ronald T Robinson · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 1008

It's been awhile since I've run into such horrid script that it was unrecordable.

When I went back to the client to have them get the thing re-written or hire me to do it, they dropped me from the project.

Much grief avoided. Large invoice missed. Just as well. Smile

Joe Rodriguez · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007, 16:21 (GMT) Post subject:

I just received this today from VOX Daily. Maybe this will make your life a bit easier.

http://www.loc.gov/nls/other/sayhow.html

Scott Pollak · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007, 17:06 (GMT) Post subject:

Joe... awesome resource! I've bookmarked it. Thanks for sharing that!