Phonetic pronunciation of names and words

Sound

Symbol/Lesson

As in

Comments

“ae”

AE

add cat pan

The short “a” sound.

“ah”

AA

are drop collar

Rarely wrong but sometimes an open 'o' sound is used instead of the 'ah'. So spell 'mot' as 'maht' to change it from 'moat' to 'mott'.

“uh”

AH

one come

Very rarely wrong; sometimes an unstressed sound is used instead. So spell 'merom' as 'meromm'.

Short “o”

AO

all off caution

Very rarely wrong. Try spelling 'Audi' as 'Ordi'.

“au”

AW

how about

If 'ow' is mispronounced as 'oh' try switching to 'au' or 'ou'.

“eh”

AX

enable moment

The unstressed “eh” sound as in “moment” or “enable” but not as in “enter”.

“er”

AXR

another over or

The unstressed “er” sound as in “another” over or “or” but not as in “her”.

Long “i”

AY

fire why eye

Rare but if 'Byron' is mispronounced more like “Birron” then try spelling it as 'Bairon' or “Byeron” or even 'Byre-on'.

“eh”

EH

enter pleasant

Rare but replacing the vowel letter or letters by 'eh' usually works. For example if 'pleasant' were mispronounced as “pleesant” then 'plehsant' corrects it.

“er”

ER

bird turn her

Never observed but 'er' should work.

Long “a”

EY

train eight A

If 'wacome' is mispronounced “wah-come” then one of 'waicome' 'waycome' or 'weycome' should fix.

Short “i”

IH

if it pick

The short I sound as in “it” “if ” or “pick” but not as in “lasting”. 'Piro' should be pronounced with a short I and is mispronounced as “pyro” then 'pihro' should work.

Long “e”

IY

any he obvious

If 'matrio' was mispronounced as “mah-try-oh” then 'matreeo' 'matreeoh' or 'mahtreeoh' should fix.

Long “o”

OW

quote open go

'bow' should be right for 'beau' and 'dohl' should work for 'dole'.

“oi”

OY

avoid enjoy dive why

The long “i” sound (or oi sound) as in “avoid” “employ” “dive” or “why”.

Short “u”

UH

good full could put

The short “u” sound as in “good” “put” “full” or “could”. If 'clough' should be pronounced as in “cluf” then 'cluhf' should work.

Long “u”

UW

tooth blue view

 use you

The stressed long “u” sound as in “to” “use” “you” or “view”. Try 'bloomehn' for the German pronunciation of 'blumen'.

“b”

B

be able

The “b” sound as in “be” or “able”.

“ch”

CH

cheap child

The soft “c” sound before “h”. The “ch” sound as in “cheap”.

“d”

D

and David

The “d” sound as in “David” or “and”.

“dh”

DH

the either

The voiced “th” sound as in “the” or “either” but NOT as in “thesis” or “thing”.

“f”

F

father rough

The soft “f” sound.

“g”

G

again peg

The hard “g” sound.

“hh”

HH

here who

The “h” sound.

“jh”

JH

jeep roger

The soft “g” sound.

“k”

K

because dark scale

The “k” sound but not the “j” sound at the beginning of a word.

“kd”

KD

cake

The “k” sound at the end of a word.

“L”

L

level parallel

The “L” sound.

“m”

M

am must

The “m” sound.

“n”

N

final not none

The starting “n” or the unaccented “n” in the middle of a word as in “final” “not” or “none”.

“ng”

NG

bang think singing

The “n” followed by a “g” or “k” sound.

“p”

P

adoption amps rapid

The “p” sound but not at the beginning of a word.

“r”

R

abroad brace read

The “r” sound followed by a vowel sound in the same syllable.

“s”

S

sit circus decide

The “s” not followed by an “h” sound.

“sh”

SH

action shade splash

The “sh” sound.

“t”

T

adapter retry let

The “t” (not “th”) sound not at the beginning of a word.

“th”

TH

thesis thing

The unvoiced “th” sound but NOT as in “the” or “either”.

“v”

V

eleven improve very

The “v” sound.

“w”

W

frequent way question

 anywhere

The “w” sound.

“y”

Y

emulate yes senior you

The “y” sound that leads into a vowel.

“z”

Z

pans goes zero

The “z” sound.

“zh”

ZH

Asia pleasure Zho

The soft “z” sound.