"Nike" can rhyme with "bike" or sound like "nye-kee." "Hermes" can refer to a Greek god or a luxury brand. Same spelling, different reading, and an unprepared voice engine cannot know which one your script means.
Vois gives you a place to settle that question before it reaches the final audio. Add the term to the pronunciation dictionary, choose whether the rule belongs globally or only in the current project, generate a short sample, and approve the version your audience expects.
That small editorial step protects a brand video, audiobook, sales demo, or course from stumbling over the name it is supposed to represent.
Why names need explicit direction
Voice engines turn text into sounds by applying learned spelling patterns. That works for common words. It breaks down with invented brands, product names, names from another language, and acronyms that can be read as letters or as words.
"Porsche," "Adidas," "Hyundai," and "IKEA" can all be pronounced differently depending on audience and region. A correct pronunciation is not always universal. The producer has to decide which one belongs in this specific piece of content.
Do not wait for the full export to discover the choice. The point of the dictionary is to stop guessing.
Add a pronunciation entry in Vois
Open the dictionary for the project and add the spelling you expect the engine to encounter, followed by a plain-English phonetic spelling. Then put the term in a short, natural sentence and generate a sample. A word can sound correct alone and still sound awkward when it follows another word or carries emphasis.
Use a global entry when the term should be identical across every project, such as your own company name. Use a project entry for a fictional character, a one-off campaign, or a client term. That separation keeps one novel's invented place name from affecting a different show.
Write the sound, not the spelling lesson
The dictionary needs an understandable approximation, not an IPA transcription. Break the word into syllables, then write the sound with familiar English patterns.
| Term | Possible phonetic spelling |
|---|---|
| Nike | nye-kee |
| Adidas | a-DEE-das |
| Porsche | POR-shuh |
| Xiaomi | SHAU-mee |
| IKEA | eye-KEY-ah |
| Guangzhou | gwang-joe |
Capital letters can help you document emphasis, but the listening test decides whether the entry is ready. Keep a note of the audience or regional convention when that affects the choice. The aim is not an abstractly perfect answer. It is a clear, consistent reading for the people hearing this production.
Audit the script before generation
Before starting a new Vois project, scan for the names most likely to cause trouble:
- Company, product, and client names
- People and place names
- Technical vocabulary and industry terms
- Acronyms that need to be spoken as letters
- Recurring fictional characters and locations
Do this while the script is still easy to edit. A twenty-minute name audit can eliminate many small regeneration requests later. For a long book or season, make this part of the initial project review alongside voice assignment and mastering choices.
Give teams one source of editorial truth
Teams need a shared reference, not a collection of private guesses. Maintain an approved term list with the ordinary spelling, phonetic spelling, intended audience or region, and a note about whether it belongs globally or only in one project. Then add the relevant entries to each Vois project before generation.
For fiction, build the list as the manuscript develops. A name repeated hundreds of times deserves a test line the moment it is invented. Keep the approved entry with the project so the narrator, character voices, and revisions all use the same decision.
Prompt your agent to find risks, not to rewrite names unattended
An external coding agent can help audit a script through the Vois CLI, but pronunciation decisions stay with the producer:
Prompt your agent: "Review this Vois script and list possible pronunciation risks: brands, people, places, acronyms, invented terms, and words whose reading may vary by region. Propose no phonetic replacements in the script. Do not change the dictionary, generate audio, export files, or alter the project until I approve each term."
Use the resulting list in a controlled review:
- Confirm the intended reading with the client, author, or reliable style source when needed.
- Add the approved term to the global or project dictionary in Vois.
- Generate a short sentence that includes the term in context.
- Listen, adjust the phonetic spelling if needed, and approve the result.
- Generate the larger section only after the sample is correct.
Make correct pronunciation invisible
Listeners rarely praise a correctly pronounced name. They notice the opposite immediately. A good dictionary makes your production feel prepared because the voice never trips over the people, places, and brands at the center of the story.
Build the name audit into every Vois project, then get started when you are ready to turn it into a repeatable production habit. The pronunciation guide covers the same discipline for larger dictionaries and recurring series.
The Vois Team