I’m presently working on a narration for the classic novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas.”
WHY ANOTHER AUDIO RECORDING OF TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAS?
There may be quite a number of audiobooks in circulation already for this novel, but I still feel compelled to narrate my own audio version of it. This may be influenced by the fact that I have listened to some of the audiobooks for this novel which are currently in circulation and I feel there is a lot to be improved. Furthermore, I have a special liking for this book. I have reread it several times. I have learned a lot of writing techniques from the author, Jules Verne. One such is the use of short dramatic sentences. Reading this book several times has improved my knowledge of writing, English, French, science, geography and even mathematics, to say nothing of history and marine biology. To put it simply, this book has played an important role in making me the literary power that I am today.
I noticed that some of the available audiobooks for this novel were produced from an abridged version of the text. My version is a complete, unabridged translation of the original French texts. You’ll get to hear the full story, in its finest substantive details, the way the author intended you to.
If you would like to learn more about “why Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas,” go to this page where I have republished the original text version, and read the foreword where I explain the merits of this novel. (Coming Soon)
A WORK IN PROGRESS
My recording of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the seas is a work in progress. It needs a lot of polishing, a lot of revising, a lot of proofing, a lot of editing and a whole lot of constructive criticism. And that’s where you, my valued audience comes in.
The MP3s of each chapter of the audiobook which I will upload here are only “preliminary recordings”. They are not perfect. But I upload them here for you to download, listen to and give me your comments, praise, corrections needed, improvement suggestions and other constructive criticisms.
POOR RENDERINGS OF AUDIOBOOKS IN CIRCULATION
I must make note, in this vein, that one of the audiobooks for this novel which is currently in circulation has some serious errors. For example the the word “chassepot” is mispronounced. Chassepot is a word of french derivation where the t is silent. The correct pronunciation is “shaspo”, not shaspot. The narrator one of the recordings I bought on audible.com pronounced the word “shaspot.”
HELP ME TO PERFECT IT!
Such errors in audiobooks are just not good enough. And I would like to go ‘ALL OUT’ to avoid such errors in my narration. Even though I am a master of languages, both written and oral, I must admit I do not know everything.
ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE!
English is not my first language, and the pronunciation of many English words does not come naturally to me. I grew up in Guyana, South American, which was once a British Colony. Even though the official language of Guyana is English, the de facto language is Guyanese Creolese. I don’t have a perfect American accent. I try to imitate the American accent, but at times, you may find me using the British accent for certain words, such as “during.” In the Caribbean, we mis-accentuate a lot of words. The question sometimes arises: misaccentuated “by whose standards”? We have in fact, developed our Caribbean accent. Nevertheless, I want this work to be on par with American standards. So please alert me to mispronunciations, mis-enunciations, and mis-accentuation, as I work tirelessly to produce the most flawless recording of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.”
Patrick Carpen
Introduction (Version 1)