Pronunciation Guide

What is it?

A pronunciation guide is the phonetic spelling of difficult words placed in the script so the presenter says them correctly on air — names, places, foreign terms, technical jargon. Written right into the copy in brackets: "the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe [oo-ZHEN ee-ZYE-uh]" or "the city of Worcester [WUSS-ter]." It's a small, unglamorous tool that prevents one of the most credibility-damaging on-air mistakes: confidently mispronouncing something.

Practical example

A newsreader has to say the name of a foreign official, a medical term, and an unfamiliar town — all in one bulletin. The script gives each a guide: "Health Minister Szymański [shih-MAN-skee]... the condition, cholecystitis [koh-luh-sis-TY-tis]... in the town of Beaulieu [BYOO-lee]." Without these, the reader either guesses (and a wrong guess on someone's name is both disrespectful and an instant credibility hit) or stumbles visibly. With them, the delivery is confident and correct. Sports broadcasters live by this — a roster of international athletes is a minefield of names, and getting them right is basic professional respect. The cost of skipping it is small until it's enormous: mispronouncing a guest's name to their face on a live show is unforgettable, in the worst way.

Key things to know (non-technical)

• Its function is confidence and respect: correct pronunciation signals competence and honors the person/place named; a confident mispronunciation does double damage (wrong and sure of itself).
• Names matter most: mispronouncing a guest's, a place's, or a public figure's name is a specific, memorable error that audiences (and the named person) notice instantly — names get guides first.
• It's a simple phonetic respelling, not formal notation: "[BYOO-lee]" beats IPA symbols for working broadcasters — readable at a glance under live pressure.
• It's prepared in advance as part of prep: someone checks the correct pronunciation (asking the guest directly is best) and writes it into the prompter copy before air.

In Tupic Live

Pronunciation guides fit Tupic Live's prep and prompter naturally: a guest-name pronunciation field in the episode brief (ideally captured from the guest themselves during the backstage tech-check — "how do you say your name?"), shown phonetically in the host's prompter at the intro — a tiny feature that prevents the specific, memorable embarrassment of a creator mangling their guest's name live on air.