The Vowel Translator
Welcome to Bohemian Vocal Studio’s Vowel Translator, the world’s first interactive vowel and consonant translator for singing. If you’ve been wondering which vowel to use in a vocal line or you’re having trouble singing a particular word or phrase, then this tool is designed for you! This translator is intended for use as a companion tool to coaching with Kegan at BVS – this translator isn’t designed to show you how to sing, but it will make it an easier and smoother process to put everything you’ve learned into practice with actual songs and vocal lines.
Practice has never been so effective!
The Vowel Translator is available to premium subscribers.
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The best way to use the Vowel Translator is to first attempt a song yourself while making note of any difficult words or phrases, then to use the translator to help you apply your vowels properly to these words or phrases.
Legend
– A dash separates each character, such as a vowel and then a consonant sound like b-EH-t for the word “Bet”
< Angled parenthesis indicate a potentially aspirated consonant such as H or F like <h-EH-oo/l-AH/OO for the word “Hello”
AH/OO and EH/OO has now been replaced by ER for any new words added from October 1st 2019 – these indicate a dipthong, and can be sung as the ER vowel (tongue up and forward) similar to the American pronunciation of “Look” or “Book” – like a lazy “Lerk” or “Berk”. Instead of using the OO vowel for a word like “Look”, it would instead be replaced by an ER vowel similar to “Lerk” to keep space in the vocal tract.
AH(AA) identifies a word that commonly has two options of pronunciation such as n-EE(AH-EE)-th-EH-oo/r for the word “Neither” which either starts with the sounds “Nigh” or “Nee” depending on the style you sing. You can choose to sing the initial vowel and ignore the brackets, or you can ignore the initial vowel and sing the bracketed vowel instead.
EH is an AY sounding vowel which is an extension of the EE tongue shape. Book a session with me if you’re having trouble shaping your vowels.
oo/r is the most generalised way for all accents and voice types to sing closed resonant consonant sounds such as R, L, Y and W. The “oo” is figurative and more a way to attain placement on your consonant so that it doesn’t occur in your throat like in speech.
n/th is a generalised way to sing a “TH” without choking off your throat – the “n” is figurative.
k indicates the presence of a glottal consonant such as G or K and is performed in singing by a click at the back of the tongue instead of a glottal stop.
dt indicates a d consonant and should be performed at the teeth without a glottal stop, similar to a “T”
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really have to sing all of that?
The translator is Bohemian Vocal Studio’s approach to vowels in it’s purest form without consideration to accent or stylistic delivery – if you are singing in a particular style such as Rock, or you’re opting for a specific tonal delivery then you may find the Translator is overly detailed and ending consonants or dipthongs may not be necessary. This is a companion tool, not a comprehensive singing approach on its own – you’re welcome to ask any questions pertaining to the Vowel Translator in the “leave a reply” box below.
There’s a word missing?
The Vowel Translator is currently in Beta form, so you may find the occasional word that hasn’t yet been added to the translator – leave the missing word in the “leave a reply” box below and I’ll add it as soon as possible. Please note, the Translator doesn’t accept hyphenated words such as “self-chosen”, so you need to write this phrase as “self chosen” instead.
I’m finding it complicated
Don’t translate full songs or verses just yet – you’re basically learning a new language, so don’t run before you’ve learned how to walk. To learn proper use of the translator, I suggest translating a simple word or vocal phrase that you already know how to sing properly and compare how you are singing to the way it appears in the translator first until you start to understand the format of the translation – remember, you can ask me a question at any time using the “Leave a reply” box below the translator.
hi buddy
I recently bouthg your course and I can feel the resonance/placement into my head and it’s super cool , thank u 😀
I’m from Chile, bye
Super cool! I’m glad – let me know if you have any questions along the way 🙂
K
Odds
betray
stinging
Seems
leads
household
Army
bullets
rooster
spit
pictures
pills
breathing
All added Ivan – obviously from The Rooster 🙂
K
:))
Awesome tool!
Really helps with resonance and placement!
Brain start to work in new – much better way – in aspect of vowels
Awesome Ivan, it’ll get better and better the more you use it and it becomes second-nature 🙂
K
chasing
cyclone
tricky
pieces
hurts ( probably because “s” at the end of a words)
tough
fantasy
landslide
aching
spine
sympathy
These are all added, thanks!
coughing
nauseous
health
troubled
sailing
Kegan I do love you!
It’s magic placement and resonance builder
Practice has never been so effective!
Awesome man, that’s great – the more you practice with it, the stronger your vowel shaping will become. Thanks for the kind words!
K
Its helpful for you – to write missing words?
If so – I will write
For myself – I clearly get missing part of context
Yeah absolutely, just keep leaving them here and I’ll add them as I go, thanks.
K
People also should strongly know – that right shaped vowels much better for tune.
This trainer very helps with high notes too…
Thanks for the vote of confidence Ivan! Glad it’s all going so well for you 🙂
K
shackles
locks
delight
invincible
Burrow
Wishing
Done, added!!
K
Done!
burned
bleeds
pouring
ripe
serves
unlocks
lips
Staring
roses
tucked
borrowed
Done! Added 🙂
K
hovering
regrets
passed
Yelling
sunken
ancient
crumble
keeps
moving
slower
hanging
Added!
Worried
washes
Done!
haunts
pearl
gathered
candles
poems
gloomy
yellowing
prisons
Done, added!
K
suffering
syllable
higher price
imagination
ashamed
sorrows
Josephine
Added! It’s fun to try to work out which song you are practicing ha.
All the best,
K
Murderer
bend
pretending
living
saint
higher
Its realy HELPS to APPLY what you told me on lessons!
Before work with translator I didn’t recognize how much throaty my voice was.
and how easy sing with right placement (and legato and right consonants approach (struggle now only on k and g )
I feel huge improvement!
I just read read read and start to sing automatically in very different way))
Added! Awesome, that’s so great to hear 🙂
K
illusion
prison
concurrence
Done!
K
hello kegan !!!
can you add please:
-surrender
-miracles
-glows
-rhythm
–
– forsake
-solid
Done Alec!!
Done!
The “R” type sounds like surenDER and miracLEs and rhTHM are generally combination vowels between an EH and an OO – it depends on stylistic choice, you can also do them as a pure AH or OO too.
All the best,
K
Always buzzing just like.. Neon! Neon!
Ha – amazing, that’s what I like to hear!
But I can’t sing it for you if I can’t find it on the vowel translator 🙁 I am guessing n EE and then Oh N? Thank you!
Hey Emmanuel! They’re all in the translator now 🙂
Neon is most likely n-EE-AH(OH)-n, depending on the style you might interchange the EE with an AY, and the AH with an OH. Let me know if you have troubles with the “N” consonant sound.
K
Thank you Kegan! You are super! “n-EE-AH(OH)-n! n-EE-AH(OH)-n! Who knows.. how long..!”
Hope to get a consultation with you some time!
All added!
K
Hi Kegan
It seems most struggles in learning to sing are related to translating concepts and exercises into actual songs. I’ve had the idea for a while that it would be great if a coach put together a ‘song pack’ for purchase. It would be very similar to your excellent youngstown video, but more in depth. What I mean is it would start with the full performance, then break it down line by line explaining every concept used (e.g. this bit requires more support/this bit the placement is here/this bit has tricky consonants to negotiate/watch out for this pitfall here) until the end of the song. It would also include a marked lyric sheet with vowel translations. It would be the perfect teaching by detailed example. Is that something you’d consider? Seasons by Chris Cornell would be an excellent example…
Hi Jake!
That’s partially where the idea for the Translator and Consonant guide came from. It’s a great idea you have there, but each element is subjecting to the person and the voice – for example, you may support more/less depending on your voice type, and use your resonant space differently, be at a different balancing point in your voice at any given point. So it would be very general (as most “how to sing like” singing videos are) as it would be tailored to my voice specifically, not yours.
The translator really works in this same way with the general vowel shape you use, along with the translated consonant sound. If you follow the Foundation 101 course, or the booster courses that will take care of the registers/resonant space/resonance/range etc – so while it’s multiple guides rather than a song pack as you’ve described, the premise is the same but you can tailor the results to each song/different songs.
All the best!
K
Makes sense and thanks for the reply! Great resources you have here 🙂
universal, consciousness, commute, Spiral, converging
Thank you! \m/
Done, added!
K
hello ! can you add
-enchanting
please
added!!
-sleepless
-solitude
-emblazoned
please 🙂
added!
-Grave
Added! k-oo/r-EH(EH-EE)-v
Hey, Kegan! Would you mind to add these words?
Cling
Veiled
Bride
Groom
Kindly
clever
entertaining
triumph
swap
unhappy
waltz
pamphlet
literature
waitress
miserable
Mystery
flashing
amber
questionnaire
change
All added!
Romeo
Juliet
Done
– K
Price
Madam
Dressed
Jewels
Rules
Conquered
America
Added,
K
Flag
Harder
Mess
Destruction
Added!
– K
religion
superstition
hypocrisy
expose
contradictions
crumbling
mythology
awakening
demon
musings
reject
irrationality
theology
heroes
breach
Peter
Paul
nonsense
evidence
subversive
shatter
pretense
countenance
superstitious
tyranny
divine
forgiveness 🙂
Added!
K
sadness
wherever
burdens
wanderer
hopeless
strayed
weary
endures
sinner
Added!!