What methods do English people use to represent pronunciations of words?
Please give me the name and one example of each. I'd appreciate it a lot, if you could tell me the usage status of that method as well.

Thanks a lot.

PS: I mean what native speakers use to represent the sounds in English words.
PS: I use IPA when I study English, I just wonder if native speakers also use it.

Question

What methods do English people use to represent pronunciations of words?
Please give me the name and one example of each. I'd appreciate it a lot, if you could tell me the usage status of that method as well.

Thanks a lot.

PS: I mean what native speakers use to represent the sounds in English words.
PS: I use IPA when I study English, I just wonder if native speakers also use it.

Answer

natives don't use IPA. natives use the same method as in the "For Dummies" series. For example, spider = (Spay-Dahh)

Answer

The IPA is used in dictionaries and in some English as a second language classes.

It is very useful for an English learner.

If your question is how do English speakers explain pronunciation to English speaking children.  Children learn phonics when they learn to read.

Answer

Hi there, Yuki!
I use the "International Phonetic Alphabet" when I teach English! I also use it when learning other languages (French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and so on) Any quality dictionary in any language should use it, too! But, there are some dictionaries that don't! It's certainly worth learning the IPA! And, it's not actually that difficult, Yuki! The benefit is that you can use it for absolutely ANY LANGUAGE in the world!!! It would be time well spent, I believe! I reckon you can learn it in under 5 hours, easily! I learnt it in about 2 hours and have been using it for over 40 years!

Here's a link to the Wikipedia page explaining a bit about the "International Phonetic Alphabet" (IPA):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

You won't regret taking the time to learn it, I can assure you! It unlocks the mysteries of every language in the world! I even used to use it when I was teaching English in Tokyo, many, many moons ago!!!

Good luck and happy language learning, Yuki!

Nick

Answer

Hi Gary. Yes. So what do you use?

Answer

Hi Yuki,
It would be very helpful for you to learn the "phonetic alphabet". Having that you can improve your pronunciation a lot!

Answers · 6

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