CORRECT PRONUNCIATION – THE IPA

Pronounce the following words aloud.

air / eə(r) /
airport / ˈeəpɔːt /
book / bʊk /
chair / tʃeə(r) /
classroom / ˈklɑːsruːm /
girl / ɡɜːl /
house / haʊs /
pair / peə(r) /
path / pɑːθ /
paths / pɑːðz /
peach / piːtʃ /
sheep / ʃiːp /
ship / ʃɪp /
student / ˈstjuːdnt /
woman / ˈwʊmən /
women /ˈwɪmɪn /

/ eə(r) /, / ˈeəpɔːt /, etc. are transcriptions of correct pronunciation. The symbols are taken from the
so-called International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The IPA is a set of symbols used to show the correct pronunciation of words in any language.

The complete set is shown in the chart below:

1
Good monolingual and bilingual dictionaries always show the pronunciation of headwords.

Here is an entry from a bilingual dictionary (Ragazzini, Zanichelli, Italy):

headword
phonemic transcription (pronunciation)
slant brackets (slashes, obliques)

♦ education /ɛdʒʊˈkeɪʃn/ n. [U]

1 istruzione; studi (pl.); formazione: to receive a good education, ricevere una buona istruzione;
primary education, istruzione elementare; secondary education, istruzione secondaria; higher
education, istruzione superiore; further education, istruzione successiva a quella dell'obbligo
scolastico; istruzione per adulti; university education, studi universitari; formazione universitaria;
level of education, livello di istruzione; livello culturale; compulsory education, istruzione
obbligatoria; formal education, istruzione regolare; religious education, educazione religiosa;
vocational education, istruzione professionale
2 pedagogia; didattica; insegnamento: a diploma in education, un diploma in pedagogia

Here is an entry from a monolingual dictionary (Cambridge Advanced, Great Britain):

headword
phonemic transcription (pronunciation)
slant brackets (slashes, obliques)

A high vertical line shows the word stress. It is placed before the stressed syllable

education /ɛdʒʊˈkeɪʃn/.

2
Good online dictionaries also include phonemic transcriptions. For example:

www.thefreedictionary.com/

Or also
WordReference.com Dizionari di lingua online
English-Italian Italian-English

Can you pronounce the following words? Speak aloud.

 laughter
 management
 psychological
 thorough
 cough
 adjacent
 choir
 Greenwich
 Chiswick
 Lancashire

Now check your pronunciation against the phonemic transcriptions, and pronounce the words
correctly. Again, aloud.

laughter / ˈlɑːftə /
management / ˈmænɪdʒmənt /
psychological / ˌsaɪkəˈlɒdʒɪkl /
thorough / ˈθʌrə /
cough / kɒf /
adjacent / əˈʤeɪsnt /
choir / ˈkwaɪə /
Greenwich / ˈgrenɪʧ /
Chiswick / ˈʧɪzɪk /
Lancashire / ˈlæŋkəʃə /