EnglishClub ESL Forums

Dear Josef and pirate,

I use Cambridge Dictionary Online here:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org

It's really a great dictionary and its examples are very useful, but I think it's somewhat stupid like in pronunciation. For example, it adds 't' sound in some words in wrong parts of them like in cancer and distance as the following links:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 1070&ph=on
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 2650&ph=on

I'm I right?

Kindest regards,

It's British accent, I think.

No, British don't say cancter and distantce, nay they say cance (with no r sound at the end) and distance.

Look at how the pronunciation of 'substance' is show here:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 9472&ph=on

I can't, really, understand that? :?

Also, circumstance

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 3669&ph=on

"t" shouldn't be there in both pronunciation.

Thank you for your reply.

I'm wondering if we can contact them to correct this problem. It looks they don't reply to emails.

Dear friend,

Have you tried this:
http://uk.cambridge.org/information/contacts/


I think this stuff belongs to Web Services, so will you email to www@cambridge.org?

Good luck, remember to post the result!
Pirate

Thank you pirate. I've sent the following letter to the address you mentioned.
==================

Dear Sir,

I'm a non-native English speaker and regular user of your online dictionary at http://dictionary.cambridge.org, and would like to bring your kind attention to the point that in many words, I think which contain 'n' and 's' sounds in order, it adds 't' sound between them in pronunciation like cancer, distance, substance and circumstance. You can see the following likes:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 1070&ph=on

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 2650&ph=on

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 9472&ph=on

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 3669&ph=on

I'll be grateful if you could explain that or correct it in case of mistake.

Yours faithfully,

Nobody has a contact with them? their mistakes are really horrible. :(

Look censor and censorship:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 2160&ph=on