Forvo.com is a website that allows access to, and playback of,

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...

sound clips in many different languages in an attempt to facilitate the learning of languages. Forvo.com was first envisioned in 2007 by co-founder Israel Rondón, and came to fruition in 2008. Forvo.com is owned by Forvo Media SL, based in San Sebastián,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Forvo's 'About'-page states Forvo to be the largest pronunciation guide website on the Internet. It has been listed in the 50 best websites of 2013 by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. All sound clips on Forvo.com are created by its users, who also have the power to vote on each clip, positively or negatively, in an effort to ensure that the highest quality sound clips have priority in the site's listings. The pronunciations are also reviewed and edited by a volunteer team of editors. Forvo has an

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

to share its pronunciation with other websites. The API service is paid (24 USD/year for individual use).

Recommendations for adding words

Forvo just encourages adding simple words but there are some exceptions that can be clearly found in their recommendations and policy.

Forvo License and User's Rights

Since the beginning of Forvo in 2008 the Company adopted a License called " Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0". By the end of 2019 the Company removed the "Creative Commons" Terms and Conditions from their website. It was replaced with an "ad hoc" License that severely restricts user's rights to copy, modify and redistribute the audio files. Since 2008 until 2019 Forvo requested volunteers to record their voices and approximately 5 million audios were recorded under the "Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0". Afterwards, Forvo suddenly changed the License to make all recordings their exclusive property. Many users have complained of restrictions to download audio. Forvo tried to revoke the rights of users and impede them from downloading their own voices. More than 5 million audios were recorded under a Creative Commons License that grants irrevocable rights to users to obtain a copy, modify and redistribute the data. However, Forvo violated the Creative Commons License to restrict the freedom of users. In contrast, the Free and Open Source Alternative

Lingua Libre Lingua Libre is an online collaborative project and tool by the Wikimedia France association, which aims to build a collaborative, multilingual, audiovisual corpus under free license. Description Lingua Libre enables to record words, phrases ...

does allow users to copy, modify and share their audios.

Recommendations for adding words

Forvo License and User's Rights

See also

References

External links