How good is my pronunciation? [closed]

Solution 1:

“How good is my pronunciation?” isn’t really the question you should be asking. What you want to know is “Is my pronunciation good enough for this production?”.

And that’s what in my shop (where we produce a lot of instructional videos) we call a “How big should a house be” question—meaning it can’t be meaningfully answered without a lot more background. Many more questions have to be answered first:

• Have you got editing software which will allow you to cut your audio in post into your video to synch up what’s heard with what’s seen, or will you have overlay on to the video track as it runs? Overlaying is very difficult for anyone who isn’t familiar with the process being described, which means you may be better served by doing it yourself, unless you develop a fairly detailed system of off-mic cues for the voicer. But be prepared to work through a dozen or so takes before you get it right. Is it worth your time?
• Who’s your audience? —your own pronunciation is probably adequate for a native speaker, who can extrapolate to Standard English on the fly, but could be very difficult for a non-native speaker, particularly one whose native language is not yours. Similarly, an audience familiar with the concepts you’re discussing will find it easier to follow you than will an audience of complete n00bs.
• Where’s your script coming from? —the same considerations apply: a native speaker and an expert viewer can tolerate a lot more casual error than a non-native speaker or a novice.
• What level of production do you have in mind? — do you want something that looks and sounds fully “professional”, would you be satisfied with something quick-and-dirty that just sets forth the necessary information and illustrations, or do you want something in between?

And once all that is clear in your mind:

• What is your budget? —not enough for a professional “talent” could mean you haven’t got four or five hundred dollars to bring a pro voice into a pro studio, or it could mean you haven’t got fifty bucks to put a competent and hungry college student onto the same mic you used. Do you expect to make any money off of this project? — then you need to calculate how much the additional investment will enhance your product’s “sellability”.

I apologize if this is less helpful than you hoped. You might get useful guidance on some of the technical issues on the Audio-Visual Production branch of SE.