The IPA Phonetics Chart – The Basics

Let’s start by explaining what the IPA chart is. Its is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation. It’s a universal way to transcribe the sound of any and all spoken languages. And given what it can do, it’s amazing in its simplicity! This all encompassing system can be printed on just one page.

The chart can be used by linguists, researchers, speech pathologists, singers, even actors and especially by teachers and students learning foreign languages 🙂

There are 7 sections to the chart, including consonants and other symbols, vowels, non-pulmonic consonants, diacritics, suprasegmentals, tones / word accents.

Even though it’s only one page, your first look at it can be disorienting. But once you understand the basics, you can use it to go as deep as you like.

We’ll guide you through each element of the chart, but the most useful for English speakers learning any of the romance languages are the consonants and vowels section.

Let’s jump in, starting with the consonants.