Pronunciation: English sounds
All levels

If you want to hear the individual sounds of English, you can use Adrian Underhill’s interactive phonemic chart. Just click on the symbol to hear the sound and an example word.  http://www.macmillanenglish.com/phonemic-chart/. There is also a great free app http://www.soundspronapp.com/ 

Please click on the links above to see a ‘phonemic chart’. The app has exercises to help you read the symbols and listen to the sounds. The premium version has more content eg word lists (currently £3.99).

These symbols are used in some dictionaries for learners of English. At first it can look a little difficult but with some practice it is possible to learn English sounds (the phonemes) quite quickly. This is very useful because English, as you know, is not always phonetic!

The top of the chart are the English single and double vowels. English has a lot of vowels compared to most languages so getting the right vowel sound is really important to avoid saying the wrong word! Below this are the consonants grouped in unvoiced and voiced pairs.