The ASCII Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is very popular, but there is a big problem with this alphabet: the IPA symbols are difficult to type on computers. You can do it, but you need special fonts and special software. This is very inconvenient.

Therefore, when you want to write English sounds in computer documents, or in e-mail messages, or in SuperMemo collections, it is better to use a phonetic alphabet which doesn't use strange symbols like Z or @, but uses regular symbols like Z or @ instead.

We have created such an alphabet. We've named it the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet, because the letters and symbols displayed by computers are called ASCII characters. (By the way, "ASCII" is pronounced ['@s ki:].)

Here is a table with all the symbols of the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet. A special printable version is also available.

vowels
IPA ASCII examples listen
^ ^ cup, luck Amer
a: a: arm, father Amer / Brit
@ @ cat, black Amer
e e met, bed Amer
.. .. away, cinema Amer
e:(r) e:(r) turn, learn Amer / Brit
i i hit, sitting Amer
i: i: see, heat Amer
o o hot, rock Amer / Brit
o: o: call, four Amer / Brit
u u put, could Amer
u: u: blue, food Amer
ai ai five, eye Amer
au au now, out Amer
ou Ou go, home Amer
e..(r) e..(r) where, air Amer / Brit
ei ei say, eight Amer
i..(r) i..(r) near, here Amer / Brit
oi oi boy, join Amer
u..(r) u..(r) pure, tourist Amer / Brit
consonants
IPA ASCII examples listen
b b bad, lab Amer
d d did, lady Amer
f f find, if Amer
g g give, flag Amer
h h how, hello Amer
j j yes, yellow Amer
k k cat, back Amer
l l leg, little Amer
m m man, lemon Amer
n n no, ten Amer
N N sing, finger Amer
p p pet, map Amer
r r red, try Amer
s s sun, miss Amer
S S she, crash Amer
t t tea, getting Amer
tS tS check, church Amer
th th think, both Amer
TH TH this, mother Amer
v v voice, five Amer
w w wet, window Amer
z z zoo, lazy Amer
Z Z pleasure, vision Amer
dZ dZ just, large Amer
special symbols
IPA ASCII what it means
' ' ' is placed before the stressed syllable in a word. For example, ['kon tr@kt] is pronounced like this, and [k..n 'tr@kt] like that.
(r) (r) [ka:(r)] means [ka:r] in American English, and [ka:] in British English.
i i(:) i(:) means i: or i or something in between. Examples: very ['ve ri(:)], ability [.. 'bi li ti(:)], previous ['pri: vi(:) ..s].
.l .l .l shows that the consonant l is pronounced as a syllable (it sounds like a vowel). Examples: little ['li t.l], uncle ['^N k.l].
.n .n .n shows that the consonant n is pronounced as a syllable. Examples: written ['ri t.n], listen ['li s.n].