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Interactive IPA Chart

ipachart.com

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Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#161
post #79
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a native Hebrew speaker. We basically have one way to say each vowel. It took practice for me (not with a coach but with some training videos etc) to even hear the different ways English speakers pronounce them, my brain just wasn't tuned to hear them, let alone pronounce them. Week, weak and wick will be pronounced and will sound exactly the same to a non trained Hebrew speaker, and to much much more hilarity -…

French speakers often struggle with beach/bitch :)

There's also the classic can't, count, and cunt (the last being one of the most offensive expletives).

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#162
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wasn’t really aware of the IPA, is this mostly used for teaching purposes when learning a new language? It’s mostly used for linguistic purposes — most often in grammatical descriptions of obscure languages, or for precisely specifying the pronunciation of a word (e.g. in my dialect ‘mutable’, say, is [mjʉːtˢə̆bu]). But I believe it gets used in language learning as well.

> most often in grammatical descriptions of obscure languages No, it's used everywhere in phonology, for every language. I started a project like that (also to train myself using web components), except it listed the phonemes of a given language, selectable to the user. I should complete it one day...

> No, it's used everywhere in phonology, for every language.

Sure, of course, but I was thinking mostly of those grammars (usually Sino-Tibetan ones, for some reason) which use IPA throughout instead of a romanisation. (I suppose that by now I’m just so used to IPA being used for phonologies that I don’t even think about it.)

> I started a project like that (also to train myself using web components), except it listed the phonemes of a given language, selectable to the user. I should complete it one day...

So like PHOIBLE? (https://phoible.org/)

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#163
post #125

Someday people will spell words phonetically. They will look back at our languages as primitive throwbacks, like hieroglyphics

Phonetic spelling is useless when you’ve got more than one dialect. For instance, consider the word ‘castle’. Is this [kæsɫ̩], or [kɑːsl̩], or [kɑːsu] (as it is for me), or something else entirely? Having an orthography which is not purely phonetic avoids this problem.

Terry Pratchett plays a lot with language, and it is funny

> “Mr Vimes," said Mrs Winkings, "ve cannot help but notice that you still haf not employed any of our members in the Vatch..."

> Say 'Watch', why don't you? Vimes thought. I know you can. Let the twenty-third letter of the alphabet enter your life.”

I am not a native English speaker, yet I decifer everyone execept gargoyles:

— e cuns uk ere um-imes an awks oo ugg

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#166
post #118

I can’t be the only one to click on this to be disappointed it wasn’t a website about beer! I wasn’t really aware of the IPA, is this mostly used for teaching purposes when learning a new language? As far as people learning English as a second language it seems like one of the biggest hurdles is learning all the ‘exceptions’. Especially for people coming from languages where all vowels only have one pronunciation. En…

It's not about IsoPropyl Alcohol (IPA for hand sanitisation) either. tip: don't drink a 70% IPA.

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#167
post #79
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a native Hebrew speaker. We basically have one way to say each vowel. It took practice for me (not with a coach but with some training videos etc) to even hear the different ways English speakers pronounce them, my brain just wasn't tuned to hear them, let alone pronounce them. Week, weak and wick will be pronounced and will sound exactly the same to a non trained Hebrew speaker, and to much much more hilarity -…

French speakers often struggle with beach/bitch :)

Italian speaker: also piece / peace / piss and sheet / shit.

We have only seven vowel sounds. A i u and open / closed e o. But different parts of the country often use only one of the two e and o sounds.

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#169
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> /ʒ/ does not occur in word-initial position in English I never noticed that until now. While it's obviously not an English word, plenty of English speakers have discussed French explorer Jacques Cousteau. I can't think of any other examples.

"genre" is one of the few. One of the languages I know allows for a word-initial /ŋ/, which English does not have at all.

New Zealand English (through Māori influence) has this, in names like Ngaire and places like Ngaio. This said, a lot (perhaps most, though it'll be regional I expect) of speakers will pronounce it as though the 'g' isn't present.

Re: Interactive IPA Chart

#170
Very nice chart. It really helps when understanding IPA.

I was trying to find the Swedish "u" sound. According to the Swedish Wikipedia page on the sound, it says it's written as "u" in IPA, but it doesn't sound right at all. The "ʉ" sound is a lot closer, but still not right.

What is the correct IPA representation of the Swedish u, as in "ful"?

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