Where you have no one yet. The first online project for learning the correct pronunciation of words in Romanian uses the voices of well -known actors and journalists

Students and teachers, as well as TV presenters, influencers, podcast makers and, why not, politicians can now verify the correct pronunciation of words in Romanian for free Audiodexa.rothe first audio encyclopedic dictionary in Romania. “No vocal can put the accents correctly on all the words,” explains for the public Hotnews the founder of the platform, Carmen Ivanov, why he chose the voices of actors and journalists known for this audio dictionary and did not use artificial intelligence.

The audiodexa.ro platform contains definitions of DEX, DOOM 3 and other dictionaries, but also encyclopedic information about the counties and cities of Romania, the rivers and tourist resorts, the countries of the world and their capitals, the seas and oceans, or the planets in the solar system.

The pronouncements are not generated by artificial intelligence, but by journalists and actors who love the Romanian language and the correctness of the utterance. I learned more about this educational and free project from Carmen Ivanov, diction trainer and founder audiodexa.ro, for hotnews.ro.

“Audiodexa was founded after receiving tens of thousands of messages and questions on Diction.ro chat about how certain words are pronounced. Thus, we considered to build a useful tool for Romanian speakers and to transpose the Romanian language dictionary and not only,” Carmen Ivanov tells.

But the idea went on. “We also refer to words that are difficult to pronounce, which are not necessarily in the dictionary, but are often used by sports commentators, journalists in general or those who want to pronounce correctly of personalities, cities, counties, etc.”

Audiodexa also appeared from a concrete need observed in the educational environment: to support students and teachers in improving pronunciation, intonation and communication, using modern and accessible tools. “I started from the reality that many young people and even professionals in the media are having difficulties in clear and correct expression. Thus, I thought Audiodexa to make the learning process more efficient and attractive,” says Carmen.

“No vocal you will be able to put the accents correctly on all words”

The story of choosing the name of the platform also has an anecdotal note: “I bought an area – audiodex.ro -, and then a colleague misunderstood the name, said Audiodexa. He started to like more” wrong “. So we took the Audiodexa and continued from there.”

Carmen, who is also the voice of the first vocal synthesizer in Romanian, explains why he chose to use only human voices, without help from Ia for audiodexa.ro:

“For now, no vocal will be able to put the accents correctly on all words – it is not yet trained for such a level of fineness for the pronunciation of words in Romanian and in any other language.

You will find words difficult to pronounce, but which are massively used by different professional categories. If we wanted to use you, I could do this especially easily given that I am the voice of the first vocal synthesizer in Romanian – Ivona Text to Speech, from Amazon.

But also because I am the voice of this synthesizer I know exactly what the limitations of an AI are, what can and what can not be done in terms of pronunciation now artificial intelligence. There are shades in Romanian that I think only a real person can play a vocal (for now). ”

The voices of well -known actors and journalists were used

This also takes us to who the voices behind audiodexa.ro are. The selection of voices was extremely rigorous. “A Voice Over Audiodexa must know very well the Romanian and grammar, have excellent diction, access to the professional studio and know how to edit the sound according to the requirements. The records must be of radio quality – we do not allow ourselves, dogs or background noises.” Then, all the sounds climbed on Audiodexa are masters and processed at the highest level by the sound specialist Alexandru Tuhuț.

Among the voices that give life to the project are well -known journalists and actors: Alex Tuhuț (Kiss FM, Rock FM), Ion Alexandru (Pro TV, Eurosport), Gabriel Cindea (Digi 24), Alexa Stănescu (edupedu.ro), Petru Stratulat (Kanald 2), Liviu Şoșea (Magic FM), but also actors, as well as actors, as well as actors Talented as Rareș Prisăcariu, winner of “Romanians have talent”.

“As for the text publishers, they are largely students from the Faculty of Journalism where they teach a sports and dictionary course with Ion Alexandru, but also students from Dictiona.ro courses. In fact, there is even a sports department coordinated by journalist Ion Alexandru, who deals with the introduction of the athletes, the names of the stadiums, the names of the stadiums, the names of the stadiums Carmen Ivanov.

For whom is useful audiodexa

The pronunciation is not left to chance. “We guide ourselves after the pronunciation suggested by the Romanian Academy through DOOM 3 and DEX 09. There are several” ears “that check each material. If any mistake is slipped, users can write and correct it immediately. At the same time, at the words with problematic pronunciation I have consulted linguists or specialists on certain areas (in football or for example I have a voire) DOOM, if it comes to correct or modify the norm given by the explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language ”, clarifies Carmen Ivanov.

The project is not limited to lexicon. “We try to add encyclopedic information-biographies, geography, art, sport. For example, we do not stop at” Romania is a country in Southeast Europe “, but we offer details about the population, capital, political regime or even curiosities.”

This ambition causes the term “colossal” to be used often in connection with Audiodexa “out of the more than 80,000 definitions in the dictionary, we managed to introduce almost 20% until the time of launch. Our publishers introduce text definitions daily, but the sound part has a delay of over 24 hours, because after we record the voices, they suffer as well as: Billboard Out, processes that are often performed by people other than those who give the voices.

The platform is designed for a very varied audience. “It represents a solution to any person who wants to speak a correct Romanian language. But, yes, I had in mind the students and students, I had in mind the journalists who always seek to pronounce correctly on Radio or TV, sports commentators, but I also had parents who can exemplify different vocal things through Audiodex.”

The interest was immediately visible. “In the first days after the launch we had several thousand hits a day. The top of the countries where the users come from: Romania, Republic of Moldova, USA, Germany, Austria, Canada and Spain. In counties, the ranking shows as follows: Bucharest – Ilfov, Iași, Brașov, Cluj, Timiș. And the average time on the site is 30 minutes.”

“This platform should be mandatory in schools”

Although the development costs a lot, Carmen Ivanov is categorical: “Audiodexa is and will remain a free platform for all users. I do not think it is fair to charge on the correct speech. ”

The financing currently comes in a proportion of 95% of its own resources, generated by Diction.ro. The remaining 5% was supported by donations. “For the future, we set up the Audiodexa Association, precisely to attract sponsorships, grants and partnerships. But we see the long -term sustainability in collaboration with schools, the Ministry of Education and Media Institutions.”

A person who knew about the project before launch told him that Audiodex should become mandatory in schools. Carmen Ivanov hopes the same thing: “If it is easier to listen than to read, at least the information comes to students-about rulers, geography, interesting words. In a Romania in which” Topu “gives a world” or “ladies” are verbal trends, Audiodexa tries to tilt the balance and clarity. ”

At the same time, Carmen says she wants to work with the Ministry of Education to validate and support the use of this type of resources at national level. “We also consider partnerships with radio and television stations to create dedicated educational programs, promoting the correct speech and effective communication in the public space. We have created some audio spots to promote audiodex and use the platform and run on a national radio and a few local radios,” she says.

In addition to the dictionary and encyclopedia, the platform already has the section of proverbs and expressions for the meaning of children. However, there are also educational games, practical diction exercises, pronunciation tests with instant feedback and a mobile application.

About the final goal, Carmen Ivanov says: “We proposed that the dictionary of the Romanian language in audio form be fully introduced in Audiodexa until the end of 2026.” But she also says that in order to populate all the sections as completely as possible that it will catch 2035 and even so they will continue to introduce the various encyclopedic elements.