Every writing system represents speech a little differently, and no system is completely faithful to how words are actually pronounced. For over a century, the International Phonetic Alphabet has ...

On August 19, 2025, in Chongqing, China, @Fish-flavoredBreeder shared a funny classroom moment. In the video, the author is teaching English to her student, asking them to read English terms aloud.

In a Lingua Franca post a few weeks ago, I needed to use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent the different pronunciations of the English word People still talk about speech sounds ...

Benjamin Franklin was many things. Politician, scientist, inventor, printer author, he was a visionary whose ideas helped shape America. But he also had some notions that, while founded on sound logic ...

Standing in front of the cashier in the take-out line, you tell them your name so you can pick up that pizza you called in 20 minutes ago. The confused cashier tells you, “Hmm, I don’t have an order ...

An investment banker has developed a new phonetic writing system to help language learners. But will it ever catch on, asks Anne Merritt. By Anne Merritt 20 March 2013 • 7:00am Language learning: ...