ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects

Hey there kiddo! So, you know how when we read a word, we say it out loud? And sometimes it can be difficult to know how to say a word just by looking at it? Well, there’s this thing called the International Phonetic Alphabet chart that helps people all around the world pronounce words in different languages.

Now, let’s focus on the English language. Did you know that there are many different dialects (ways of speaking) of English? For example, in America people say “tomato” differently than in England, and in Australia they say it differently than both America and England! This can be confusing when we want to know how to say a word the right way.

So, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) chart for English dialects is like a big map that shows how to pronounce every sound in every dialect of English. It has symbols for all the different sounds, and it helps people know exactly how to say a word no matter where they’re from or where they’re speaking to.

These symbols can look pretty tricky at first, but they’re actually really helpful. For example, instead of just writing the word “tomato”, the IPA chart would write it like this: /təˈmeɪtoʊ/. This might seem weird, but each symbol represents a specific way to say each sound in the word.

And that’s pretty much it, little one! The IPA chart helps people all over the world speak English in the right way by showing them how to say every sound in every dialect. It’s like a big map that helps you get from one place to another!