Tech Forum

What I miss in my current scriptures--both printed and electronic, is the ability to sound out names and places (mostly from the Old Testament). In Sunday School, you will always hear something like, "...those who descended from Merari. . .Maruriah. . .Mariah. . .or however you say it. . ."

In my old scriptures (pre-1981) nearly every name and city is printed in type with the pronunciation marks. Thus you had a good stab at pronouncing the name or place correctly. These marks were removed (which was disappointing to me and my family) in the newer 1981 edition.

How about creating an App, or a tagged reference list (like a footnote) for all these names and places that would give you the pronunciation marks if you tap on the word? This would eliminate a lot of confusion for a teacher or someone reading a scripture out loud. It would also help new members reading the Book of Mormon to pronounce names and places they have never heard before.

Anyone agree with such a project?

Not sure what I could do (other than create a list of names and places from my old scriptures) but I'd love to participate.

hdskousen wrote:Anyone agree with such a project?

+1

I'd love to see it integrated with Gospel Library. It's useful to have a list of names and places (with a brief description as well as pronunciation), but most of the time you would want it is as you're reading a passage that uses the difficult-to-pronounce name.

I like your added idea of a brief description, and if it's a place, perhaps a quick link to a Bible map showing the location (if known) and/or a history note. But that's getting a little beyond just a pronunciation guide!

Pronunciation is always hard, because most of these names and words are originally another language, like Hebrew, that is pronounced with different sounds than exist in English; or like Reformed Egyptian, where we have no idea how they were pronounced (and evolving through the years). Then, if you "anglicize" the pronunciation (constrain it to English sounds), do you use a British accent? North American accent?

But a possible/close pronunciation is better than nothing, and it would be a very nice feature.

YES, Please! How do you say “Jairus.”

erin1962 wrote:YES, Please! How do you say “Jairus.”

I have played the name as read by both the male and female scripture readers in Gospel Library, and they both pronounce Jairus the same way. They do not pronounce it the way I have pronounced it all of my life.

I do not know that they pronounce the name "correctly", although I believe that their pronunciation must have been approved by the Church, and they both say the name the same way.

I have always pronounced the name using two syllables. The readers use three. I will leave it to you to listen for yourself in GL and see what you think. One handy reference can easily be accessed in the header to Matthew chapter 9. The name is also pronounced in Mark 5 and Luke 8.