IDENTIFYING SUBSTITUTE PRONUNCIATIONS

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, including selecting terms; obtaining an expected phonetic transcription of an idealized native speaker of a natural language speaking the terms; receiving audio data corresponding to a particular user speaking the terms in the natural language; obtaining, based on the audio data, an actual phonetic transcription of the particular user speaking the terms in the natural language; aligning the expected phonetic transcription of the idealized native speaker of the natural language with the actual phonetic transcription of the particular user; identifying, based on the aligning, a portion of the expected phonetic transcription that is different than a corresponding portion of the actual phonetic transcription; and based on identifying the portion of the expected phonetic transcription, designating the expected phonetic transcription as a substitute pronunciation for the corresponding portion of the actual phonetic transcription.