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Forvo

Principal function(s): Autonomous learningGroup/pair work - outsidersIndividual workPronunciationTeacherStudentYou SupplyWebsite/other users supply

Forvo is a website and app that provides audio pronunciations of words and languages in various languages along with their translation. These audio pronunciations are submitted by native speakers worldwide. Forvo is free to use and does not require having an account to listen to word pronunciations, although registration allows for additional features like contributing pronunciations and saving favorite words. Evaluation: Forvo is a valuable and handy tool for finding out the correct pronunciation of words. With its help, students can autonomously check and learn words' pronunciation, while teachers can provide the site as a reference resource. Since it is crowdsourced, please consider that some pronunciations may not necessarily be standard. However, users who provide the pronunciation often also indicate whether it belongs to a specific dialect or speech community, so Forvo can be a helpful tool for those seeking to get familiarised with a specific dialect or accent.

Cost: Free.

Website: https://forvo.com/

  

Best practice

Pronouncing a poem

Categories

Type Of Interaction

  • Group/pair work - outsiders
  • Individual work

Skills

  • Pronunciation

Content

  • Website/other users supply
  • You supply

Usability

Interface User-friendliness/complexity of the tool´s interface

Straightforward, intuitive

Time efficiency Time needed for mastering the „how-to“ of the tool and a production of a task

High. It may take some time for a contribution (pronunciation) to be approved by the site, but as a learner, it is a great and quick way to accurately know how words are pronounced.

Interface language(s) The number of languages in which the tool is currently available/adaptable to

Interface available in 40+ languages; pronunciation for words in more than 300 languages available.

Respect for privacy Does the tool require registration? Who can see my data? Can I remain anonymous?

Medium/high. Forvo collects personal information such as username, email address, date of birth, gender, and spoken or studied language, together with service metadata, login information and others, for different operational and analytical purposes and to market its products. It does not sell data to third parties and shares it only to run the service. One of these third parties is Google Ad Manager and Google Analytics. Forvo’s privacy policy mentions the use of measures to ensure the security, secrecy, and confidentiality of data. Users are also informed about their rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, object, and data portability. Forvo stores user data in the EEA, and processes it in compliance with applicable legislation, including Regulation (EU) 2016/677, that is the GDPR. See more here.

Saving work for future use Possiblity to save your or others´ work for reuse/reproduction

Yes. Users with a profile can bookmark and save words.

Tailorability (If so, how?) Possibility of the tool to be used for a range of different activities (e.g. to what extent you can organize a project assignment with a central activity based on this tool)

Medium. Virtually any word can be found on Forvo.

Interactivity

Engagement

Collaboration

Communication

Technical requirements

Installation required?

No; it is a browser-based tool.

Compatibility/ Operating System

Any browser.

Other technical requirements