Introduction to the I P A
For those who are interested in this use accurate phonetic transcription system, I'll write a quick introduction, focusing on the sounds required for Spanish and English. Remember: each symbol has always the same sound, and it must be always pronounced.
The basics
Sounds are transcribed with slashes /…./ or with square brackets […] The square brackets are used for more precise transcriptions, because the "p" in "pin" and "spin" are pronounced differently, but this is ignored with the slashes.
Something very similar to an apostrophe (/'/) indicates that the next syllable will have the primary stress. For example, if you say "a record", the stress is on "re", but if you say "I record", the stress is on "cord". If this symbol was used in English, they would look like "I re'cord a 'record".
All vowel symbols in the IPA are short. A symbol similar to a colon (/?/) after a vowel indicates that it is a long one.
The most obvious ones
You shouldn't have any problems with these if you speak English, as they are evident: /b/ /d/ /f/ /h/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /p/ /s/ /t/ /v/ /w/ (in "win", not in "show") and /z/. These letters must always be pronounced, not like in "debt", where the "b" is silent, or "who", where the "w" is also silent. If the letter is there, it must be pronounced. You already know 14 IPA symbols. There are some optional little diacritics (little marks) below some of these letters to indicate the precise position of the tongue or other details for perfectionists. I won't go that far here.
The symbol /j/ is like the "y" in "yes", not like the "j" in "jar". This sound appears in other combinations that have no "y" or "j", like "hue" (/hju?/)
The letter "x" in "extra" is represented phonetically as /ks/. Try it!
The symbol /r/ is more like the Scottish "r". It represents the trill sound of the Spanish "r" in "rojo" or "rr" in "perro" which English speakers tend to find so hard to pronounce.
The symbol /g/ represents the sound in "goat", but not in "gist".
That's another 3 symbols.
If you know how to read the Spanish vowels well
Then you already know another 5 IPA symbols, because the symbols /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/ are precisely the Spanish vowels. However, if a diphthong (two consecutive vowels pronounced in one syllable) in Spanish starts with i or u, we pronounce them as /j/ and /w/ respectively, e.g. "copio" (/kopjo/), "duele" (/dwele/)
If you don't know the Spanish vowels well
Then it is trickier, but maybe this may be useful.
? When you spell in English and you read the letter "a", you are pronouncing two sounds. These two sounds are represented by the symbols /e?/ in the IPA. The first sound is the Spanish "e".
? The word eat (/i?t/), on the other hand, has only one sound even though it has two written vowels. The symbol for this is /i/, and in Spanish it is represented with the letter "i" (which is short, not long like in "eat")
? The symbol /o/ (and the Spanish letter "o") is trickier, because while it can be heard in English in words like "caught" (/ko?t/) pronounced by an Australian, not everyone uses it -other English speakers will pronounce it as /k??t/, where /?/ is a slightly different sound.
? The word "food" is transcribed as /fu:d/ (long vowel), where the /u/ is the sound of the Spanish "u".
So what if we put too Spanish vowels together, like "ae", for example? You pronounce the "a" in Spanish and then the "e" in Spanish. So, the Spanish word "loor" sounds like an "l" plus a Spanish "o" plus another Spanish "o". That's it! Read each letter, one at a time.
Other "strange" consonant symbols
In the IPA, if you something like /sh/, you would have to make an /s/ sound first, and then an /h/ sound, which is not an easy thing to do. You'd not get the sound of "ship". For that initial hissing sound you need the symbol /?/. Thus, "ship" is transcribed as /??p/, where the /?/ is different from the previous /i/ used in Spanish. The /?/ sound does not exist in Spanish. The "ch" in "church" uses a combination of /t/ and /?/: /t???t?/
'The sound you get at the end of "montage" (/m?n't???/) does not exist in Spanish (except in Argentina and the surrounding areas). Notice that in many words like "page", this /?/ is combined with a "d": /pe?d?/. You also find this sound in words like leasure (/li???r/ in USA).
The "th" in "thin" (or z in Castilian accent) is represented with a Greek theta (/?/).
The initial sound in "the", "them" and "though" (which so many non-English speakers find so hard), and it is like a soft "d", is represented by /ð/, like in /'w?ð?/ (weather). This sound also exists in Spanish in a lot of words, like "dedo" (finger): /'deðo/.
Finally, there is the symbol /?/, which is the nasalized version of the "n" that you get in "sing": /s??/
More vocalic symbols
For many languages, the 5 simple vowels of the Spanish repertoire are not enough. For English, for example, you need to add a lot more (behold the nightmare!):
/æ/ is used in "pad" (/pæd/). For Spanish speakers it sounds like an Spanish "a" and "e" put together.
/?/ is a difficult sound for Spanish speakers. It can be found in "ship" (/??p/). Compare this sound with the one "sheep" (/shi?p), which is the Spanish "i", but longer. These two words sound identical to Spanish ears at normal speed.
/?/ is similar to the Spanish "a", but with the tongue more retracted. It can be found in "arm" (/??m/).
/?/ is the sound in "up" (/?p/) and but (/b?t/). Spanish natives perceive it closer to a Spanish "o" sometimes, and closer to "a" other times.
/?/ is like /? /, but with the lips rounded. It can be found in "saw" (/'s??/) and the British "walk" (/'w??k/) –the American "walk" is /'w?:k/.
/?/ and /?/ can be found in air (/??/). The sound /?/ is very common in English for short non-stressed vowels: "bear" (/'be?r/), "mister" ('m?st?)
/?/ is very similar to /?/, and it looks backwards probably because the tongue is moved backwards slightly. It can be found in words like "early" (/'??l?/) and "urge" (/'??d?/). Spanish speakers find both /?/ and /?/ sound like "blurred" kinds of "e" to Spanish ears, while /?/ sometimes sounds to us like an "e", sometimes like an "a".
/?/ is not too different from an /u/, but the position of the tongue is more relaxed (more open and forward). This sound appears in "loud" (/'la?d/) and "rope" (/'ro?p/)
The symbol /?/ apparently is only used in Boston in the USA.
The combinations of these vowel sounds (diphthongs), like in /e?/, are just a matter of pronouncing each symbol, one at a time, like in "day" (/de?/).
Sounds for Spanish
Apart from the previously mentioned /r/, Spanish as a flap /?/ (the softer "r" sound), like in "cara" (face): /'ka?a/). This sound –to the surprise of many– is widely used in American English for the T and the D: "better" (/'b???/), ladder (/'læ??/), which to Spanish ears sound as if those words had an R.
Of course, a symbol is needed for the "ñ": /?/ and the "j": /x/. Thus, the word "niño" is /'ni?o/ and "Don Quijote" is /donki'xote/.
The soft "g" has an even softer variant that doesn't exist in English: /?/, like in "gárgara" (/'ga??a?a/) or "pagar" (/pa'?a?/). The same happens with the soft "b" (/?/) in "beber" (/'be?e?/) and "hervir" (/er'?ir/), and the soft "d" (/ð/) in dedo (/'deðo/)
The "ll" is pronounced in many ways depending on the country, but one of the sounds (/?/) is erroneously taught as the "ny" in "canyon" (/'kænj?n/) or "million" (/'m?lj?n/). It is much closer to the sound of "y", which is why it looks like an inverted "y".
Also, in some countries the "y" is pronounced as /?/, a sound that English speakers struggle to get quite right.
10 Answers
Hello! I'm bumping this, just in case someone has not seen it yet.
Thank you, Lazarus!
I, on the other hand, am bumping this so that I can easily find the post. Thanks a lot!
Excellent. I'll have to study this a bit.
The symbol /r/ is more like the Scottish "r". It represents the trill sound of the Spanish "r" in "perro" which English speakers tend to find so hard.
Is that /r/ like the single r in pero, or the double rr in perro? In other words, one roll, or a longer roll? How would you notate a Spanish word that started with an r, like rojo?
¡Gracias!
I'm commenting because I was so fascinated by this thread I managed to read all the way through without stopping with the original intention of just giving it a quick overview. Please consider that site lazarus. Thank you!
My favorite I P A website for American English is: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/. It also offers the A F I for Spanish in Spanish.
Thanks again Lazarus for the information. I appreciate your diligence in regards to both English and Spanish!! 
Thank you very much. Like the others before me I'm bumping this up
I'm bumping this up....this thread is great Lazarus!!!
Another advice. Lool at the link given by cogumela, which although it has only the sounds required for (British) English, which it is very useful.
However, I strongly recommend that you approach the diphthongs (double symbols) this way:
- ? Click on /?/ and then on /?/. Then click on /??/, and you will see that it is just the other two sounds pronounced one after another seamlessly (without a pause).
- ? Click on /a/ and then on /?/. Then click on /a?/, and you will see it is the same again.
- ? Click on /?/ and then on /?/. Then click on /??/, and you will see it is the same again.
- ? Repeat the procedure for all other combinations.
The problem with the way these diphthongs are often taught is that people assume that they are individual combinations that have to be learnt in isolation, while they are just two sounds put together. You don't have to learn or memorize those diphthongs to learn IPA. All you have to do is to know the individual sounds, and then concatenate them in a perfectly regular fashion, even more than in Spanish, where "ch", for example, is not the sound of a "c" plus the sound of a "h", but a different sound altogether.
The only reason why they put those diphthongs is because they are the ones that exist in most English words, so you have lots of words with those sounds to relate to. My advice is that you do not memorize them; just focus on the individual sounds and how they combine to produce diphthongs.
The combinations /t?/ and /d?/ are not individual sounds either (and I would have not included them either), but combinations of two separated sounds pronounced seamlessly . The digraph /t?/ is simply the concatenation of a /t/ and a /?/.
Ah, and notice that when that site pronounces certain consonants, because they are almost impossible to utter without a vowel, they add a little /?/ sound to it, to make it easier to hear. The symbol appears in red, to warn you.
I'll see if I can find a similar one that includes the IPA symbols for Spanish.
P.D. The chart has some minor errors with the voiceless consonants, but as a starting point is fine.
