This week I’ve had several students ask me to explain the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA.
Although I am not an expert on this subject I do use IPA symbols with my students including the symbols for:
- the schwa vowel sound /ə/
- the voiced th sound /ð/
- the voiceless th sound /θ
- the tapped t sound /ɾ/
- and the /ae/ sound
I use online resources such as this IPA Chart from Antimoon to explain these sounds.
The chart linked to here contains a table displaying the IPA symbols used in phonetic transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners. There are audio files for each sound.
The charts are printable so you can download and print one for your reference.
A good American English audio course that explains all these sounds with examples is called Best Accent Training. I have used this course with my students and all have commented on how much they liked it.
Tags: american english audio, best accent training, English phonetic alphabet, IPA, Phonetic pronunciation
