
Forvo
By Polly Conway,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Millions of words pronounced on basic, crowd-sourced site.

A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this website.
Community Reviews
There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What’s It About?
FORVO is an online pronunciation dictionary. Its content is crowd-sourced, meaning that anyone registered with the site can add their own voice and pronunciation of chosen words. With a searchable database of over 1 million words in 300 languages, kids can review words they think they know in English, or find out how a native speaker pronounces a word in a different language. Forvo's audio clips are 2.5 seconds long, tops, which is apparently long enough for any word to be spoken. Some words also include phonetic spellings to help as you listen.
Is It Any Good?
Forvo's catchphrase is "All the words in the world. Pronounced." With well over a million words and counting they're getting there; it can be fascinating to see a crowd-sourced project like this develop. While the site works well as a pronunciation tool, it isn't a translator. For example, when you look up the word "cat," you'll see many examples of how to pronounce the word "cat" in English. However, there aren't links to the pronunciation of cat's translation in French, Spanish, or any other language. You can hear how "cat" sounds in a handful of different accents, though, which can be interesting and amusing. One of the site's best features is that you can hear different voices saying the same word -– this really helps to give you a sense of the "best" way to say it yourself. It's worth noting that the sound quality varies from recording to recording; some are very clear while others are muted, distorted, or totally unintelligible.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Ask your kids: What's your favorite word, and why do you like it? Is it the sound? Does it make you feel a certain way?
Talk to your kids about how people from different places pronounce the same words. Do they sound the same or different? Why is this? Should everyone try to sound the same, or is there a value to regional differences in pronunciation?
Website Details
- Subjects: Social Studies : cultural understanding, Language & Reading : phonics, speaking, vocabulary
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning : asking questions, memorization, Communication : listening, speaking, Tech Skills : using and applying technology
- Genre: Educational
- Pricing structure: Free
- Last updated: November 5, 2015
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
Our Editors Recommend
Educational Websites
Learning Tools for Out-of-the-Box Thinkers
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate