IPA Translator

About IPA

The International Phonetic Alphabet, usually abbreviated IPA, is not a spoken language but a standardized system for writing speech sounds from the world’s languages. It was developed by the International Phonetic Association and is used internationally in linguistics, language teaching, lexicography, and speech-related fields. It has no native speakers; instead, it is learned as a specialist notation. The script draws mainly on Latin and Greek letters, with additional modified symbols and diacritics.

A distinctive feature of IPA is its aim of one symbol for one sound value within a given transcription system, allowing fine-grained phonetic detail such as stress, tone, nasalization, and vowel length to be marked. The modern alphabet grew out of work by language teachers and phoneticians in the late nineteenth century, and it remains the standard notation in many dictionaries and pronunciation guides. Different traditions use broad phonemic transcription or narrower phonetic transcription depending on how much detail they need.