If you're wondering how to pronounce the names of people and places in the news, check us out – we’ve done the work for you! VOA’s Pronunciation Guide has been the go-to source for our broadcasters for years, and it's available online to the public, too. Names are updated several times a day, 365 days a year, and are presented both visually and as mp3 audio files.

Jim Tedder, the administrator of the Pronunciation Guide, says, "The guide is not intended to be a language teaching tool. It is not a dictionary of all possible pronunciation permutations. What it is is a resource that will help English speakers pronounce difficult foreign names with a much greater degree of assurance than by simply guessing or attempting to Anglicize the sounds. It is a resource designed for English-speaking announcers who often must work under deadline pressure."

The page also includes such helpful resources as an explanation of how the pronunciations of names are determined, a pronunciation key, and a list of countries and the languages spoken there. We hope this resource is as helpful to you as it is to our broadcasters.