There are many websites that exist just to stoke your curiosity. Localingual is one of them.

Land on the website and a colorful world map takes up your screen. There is no mention of what exactly this map is for, but let your mouse travel around the map and ratchet up your speakers. Travel to any country in the world and listen to the unique accents of that country!

Localingual

The website came from the mind of a world traveler. David Ding is a former Microsoft engineer fascinated by dialects and languages. His backpacking trips allow him to experience both. So he took this interest and started the site as an encyclopedia for languages:

My dream for this site is for it to become the Wikipedia of languages and dialects spoken around the world.

If this is your first visit, you might not find much to rave about on Localingual -- yet. The dialects from many countries are still missing. But give it some time as it is a crowdsourced platform.

For now, click on any country in the world to enjoy the unique way they pronounce the name of their country and the capital. Maybe you can try your home country and hear if the volunteers have got it right.

You can always contribute and introduce the name of the country, its capital, also any word or phrase. For a dash of nationalism, click the little music note icon to hear the national anthem of the country you picked on the map.

Localingual-recording

As it's a crowd-sourced platform, anyone can upload a recording for any country. Even if you're not from there. But it never hurts to be genuine.

In the age of Google Translate, this site could be a short stopover. But the humble effort is getting some online love in the few days of its existence. Thanks to modern web technology, you can listen to radios around the world, and dialects and accents. That is a cultural education for free!

Website -- Localingual

Will Localingual take off? Which is the one accent you find the most pleasant?