Crowd Sourcing used to Repay the Kindness of Strangers.

Nelson film producer, Keith Hawke, has mounted a campaign to raise funds to develop a free phone app that will allow people to get the correct pronunciation of English words anywhere, anytime. It will be simple and quick to use and practical.
 
Feb. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Crowd sourcing to repay debt.

Nelson film producer, Keith Hawke, has mounted a campaign to raise funds to develop a free phone app that will allow people to get the correct pronunciation of English words anywhere, anytime. It will be simple and quick to use and practical.


The user will key in the word, listen to the international broadcast voice pronounce the word correctly, record their own attempt, compare the two and then try again.

“Over the years there have been many many people who have patiently corrected my pronunciation of their language when I have clumsily tried to communicate. I have little proficiency in learning other languages so their patience and kindness has been invaluable.

I am working to give something back, for free, to those who are trying to correct their pronunciation of my native language. English.”

“I have heard these lines so often from friends and business associates:

“I speak English but people don’t understand me.”

“I have taken English classes but I am unsure of my pronunciation.”

“I am often misunderstood and I am embarrassed about my accent.”

“I am not sure that my English client understands what I am saying.”

Hawke has enlisted the Crowd Sourcing site Indiegogo in his bid to raise the necessary funds.

His site is at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/330567


He has highlighted a range of attractive rewards to those who fund the project.

These include copies of his book ‘Plough Chains and Bees Arses’ and the opportunity to become a Beta tester of the software.

The funds raised will be spent on contracting a developer to design the software for this phone application, a graphic artist to design the logo and artwork for the website and the app. A server, which will be a significant cost, so that the users can quickly access the thousands of sound files of the words in the archive.

The International voice will be paid an agreed fee for his recording time and for the continued use of his voice. It will take at least a week or more to record the correct pronunciation of all the words. These individual recordings will then have to be named and catalogued.

Hawke will put also put up a website that explains how the English pronunciation application works.

“I will obviously continue to put in a large amount of unpaid effort and time to make all this happen.”

The budget is for cash outlays only. There is no provision for time spent.

“As an independent film producer I am very accustomed to working with limited budgets and I am very confident that with this budget I will be able to develop and to offer for free a very practical and popular tool to help people to correct their English pronunciation.”

Key people in this project are:

Keith Hawke is a New Zealander who has owned and managed Film and Video production companies in Asia and New Zealand for more than twenty years.  

He has produced many TV series and Marketing Videos and he has an extensive knowledge of film and television production.

“I have employed and socialised with many many people who spoke English with an accent.  

Very often their English is technically correct but their accent makes communication with native English speakers difficult.

It is primarily an accent and pronunciation problem.

English is spoken with many different accents but there is a ‘Mid Atlantic’ accent that is neutral and universally understood.

In setting up Say You Say I have offered to my friends a tool where they can hear English spoken correctly and where they can compare their own accents with that of a professional broadcaster.”

He can be found at:  www.hawkefilms.com


Craig McLeod – International Broadcast Voice.

An expert in elocution, pronunciation and voice production, Craig trained at the Hollywood Actor’s Studio in Los Angeles under the renowned teacher Eric Stone who described him as “a major talent”.

He has voiced major documentaries for National Geographic and TV channels all over the world. He has been the Station ID and promo voice for most of the cable networks in Asia, including National Geographic, ESPN, MGM, AXN as well as Singapore’s Channel 5.

Craig McLeod one of South East Asia’s best-known voices, having recorded hundreds of voice-overs for documentaries, radio and TV commercials and station IDs.

He is the voice of Singapore Airlines, Lux, Sony, Phillips, Toyota, Singtel, Organics, City Developments, Motorola, Carrier, Wella, OUB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Tiger Beer, Guinness, Ministry of Education, Singapore Armed Forces, Mercedes Benz, DHL, Pizza Hut, KFC to name but a few.

Craig has won the Singapore Ear Awards for best radio commercial three years in a row.

For further information contact:

Keith Hawke

021-528832

03 5468428
End
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