Introducing .... the International Phonetic Alphabet!

One of the things that makes English so distinct from most of the other languages on the planet is its unusually inconsistent and unpredictable spelling. Due to changes in the sounds of English over time, many letters once pronounced are now silent -- particularly our old friend "silent e." Add to that the fact that, as our vowel system changed, many words that use the same vowel are pronounced completely differently, and you have a pretty difficult spelling "system." The spelling reformer and playwright George Bernard Shaw jested at this by claiming that "fish" should be spelled "ghoti" -- since gh spells 'f' in "laugh," o is pronounced 'i' in "women," and ti spells 'sh' in "notion!

To save us from all this, and to enable us to understand English's changing sounds, the powers that be sent us the International Phonetic Alphabet. It may look a bit daunting, but it has the great advantage that, within it, one letter indicates one, and precisely one sound, and is always consistent.

I've provided a link to an excellent video tutorial (here and at the top of our links list -- have a look and a listen. It's a remarkable video, in that with it, you can both hear the IPA sounds and see the way the jaw, tongue, lips, and teeth make them.  At first it may seem daunting, it's fairly easy to get used to; after all, these are noises we've all been making nearly all our lives. And then, just for practice, see if you can transcribe one of the most familiar sequences of sounds -- your own name. You can write it out on a piece of paper, or if you like there are downloadable fonts that will enable you to type them out.