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You are here: Alumbo! Self-Help Supersite > Item Detail Page 
Pagans Declare War on Bad Pronounciation"Dictionary that Speaks" Provides Both Audio and Visual Feedback!
A feature article by Brother Aviaf, Oct 09, 2007 
Most witches, Wiccans, Druids, wizards, sorcerers and ceremonial magicians these days are pretty much self-taught, either through books, or on the internet. But on those occasions when they get together with others of their ilk, they are too frequently unsure of the pronunciations of words common to their crafts, sometimes leading to discomfort or embarrassment. In 2005, a small group of Massachusetts pagans came up with an idea for a free, online, pronunciation dictionary- a talking dictionary of occult and neopagan words. The technology was there, the bandwidth was available (although the special construction of the dictionary makes it usable on even relatively slow connections), and the need was there. According to Brother Aviaf, of the Pagan Talking Dictionary Project, there was nothing online like the dictionary they envisioned- just a few sites here and there, doing their best to help out on the web. Information was often contradictory. Frequently, incorrect information was repeated, confusing newcomers. The group figured if they could just "find a home" for their dictionary, that they could figure out the mechanics required to implement it. Then serendipity intervened. Web-server space, the right recording equipment and technologies appeared as if, well, by magick.Burying themselves in the methods of linguists, the group researched pronunciations of Welsh, Celtic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Egyptian (and many other)words. They became amateur etymologists, and semanticists. And they asked a lot of questions.
They figured if they could work out an easy to use, easy to understand method of presenting unfamiliar pronunciations, that they could provide a fabulous service to the neopagan community. And after two years, thousands of lines of HTML, JavaScript, and PHP code later, they seem to have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The Pagan Talking Dictionary, on the web at http://www.thestonepentacle.com/project/dictionary.html (or just Google "Pagan Talking Dictionary")is the result of their efforts. The most unique feature of the dictionary is that when a user passes their mouse-pointer over a syllable in a word, the syllable actually seems to 'swell-up' as its pronounced. The result is a foolproof mechanism for learning to pronounce even the most complex words. This unusual, proprietary mechanism can only be truly appreciated by trying it out for yourself. Oh, and be sure to have a happy Halloween, or as the Wiccans say, "Samhain" (pronounced SOW-when
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