Phonetic symbols

Phonetic symbols are a great help when it comes to learning to pronounce English words correctly. Any time you open a dictionary, you can find the correct pronunciation of words you don't know by looking at the phonetic pronunciation that follows the word. Unfortunately, learning the phonetic alphabet is not always the easiest thing to do.

Here you have a phonetic chart with the majority of basic sounds in English. In English, as you certainly know, many words can have the same pronunciation but be written differently with different meanings. For example "to, two, and too" which all have the phonetic transcription /tu/. Sometimes, words can be written similarly but have different pronunciations as in the "ough" combinations thought, though, bough, and through. Another factor in pronunciation is the how the word is stressed. Understanding the phonetic alphabet can greatly simplify the learning process, especially for students who do not have the opportunity to work with a teacher.

Find more info and practise:

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa040998.htm

http://www.wordreference.com/es/phonetic_symbols.aspx

http://www.agendaweb.org/phonetic.html

http://www.englishmedialab.com/pronunciation.html