IPA Version of the Four Essential Travel Phrases

American English using the International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was created by the International Phonetic Association in the 1880s to transcribe the sounds of all spoken languages.

The IPA is encoded in Unicode but many additional notational systems are in use that allow the IPA to be represented using only the (ASCII) characters on the keyboard. Many of these "plain text" notations are shown below for American English:

Alexiev, Branner, Carrasquer, Coutts-Barrett, Kirshenbaum / Usenet IPA, Kolagian, and SAMPA

International Phonetic Alphabet entries for other languages and dialects are available elsewhere:

Bashkir, Capeverdean Creoles, ConLangs (Arêndron, Arrows, Avorenta, Ayeri, David Peterson's ConLangs, Deini, Dingwempi), Persian / Western Farsi, Dutch, English dialects and accents, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Khanty, Mandarin Chinese, Persian / Western Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Proto-German, Russian, Sentani, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Ubykh, and Zulu

American English using IPA shown printed and handwritten

dialect information

IPA information

American English using Vladimir Alexiev's notation

wE: 'Iz m^I rUm

wE: 'Iz D@ bi:tSH

wE: 'Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt t^tSH mi:

American English using David Prager Branner's notation

wE: 'Iz mv&I rUm

wE: 'Iz D@ bi:tS

wE: 'Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt tv&tS mi: DE:

notation comparison table on Don Blaheta's website

American English using Miguel Carrasquer's notation

wE: 'Iz mA*I rUm

wE: 'Iz D@ bi:tS

wE: 'Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt tA*tS mi:

notation comparison table on Don Blaheta's website

American English using Robert Coutts and Barbara Barrett's Coutts-Barrett notation

w;3: 'Iz m;vI rUm

w;3: 'Iz -d;e bi:tS

w;3: 'Iz -d;e b@:

d;eUnt t;vtS mi: -d;3:

notation comparison table on Don Blaheta's website

American English using implicit Kirshenbaum / Usenet IPA notation

wE: 'Iz mVI rUm

wE: 'Iz D@ bi:tS

wE: 'Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt tVtS mi: DE:

American English using explicit Kirshenbaum / Usenet IPA notation

{lbv,apr}{lmd,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng} {smh,fnt,unr,vwl}{vcd,alv,frc} {blb,nas}{lmd,bck,unr,vwl}{smh,fnt,unr,vwl} {alv,apr}{smh,bck,rnd,vwl}{blb,nas}

{lbv,apr}{lmd,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng} {smh,fnt,unr,vwl}{vcd,alv,frc} {vcd,dnt,frc}{mid,cnt,unr,vwl} {vcd,blb,stp}{hgh,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng}{vls,alv,stp}{vls,pla,frc}

{lbv,apr}{lmd,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng} {smh,fnt,unr,vwl}{vcd,alv,frc} {vcd,dnt,frc}{mid,cnt,unr,vwl} {vcd,blb,stp}{low,bck,unr,vwl}{lng}

{vcd,alv,stp}{mid,cnt,unr,vwl}{smh,bck,rnd,vwl}{alv,nas}{vls,alv,stp} {vls,alv,stp}{lmd,bck,unr,vwl}{vls,alv,stp}{vls,pla,frc} {blb,nas}{hgh,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng} {vcd,dnt,frc}{lmd,fnt,unr,vwl}{lng}

notation comparison table on Don Blaheta's website

American English using the Kolagian Phonetic Alphabet (KPA)

wE: 'Iz mVI rUm

wE: 'Iz D@ bi:tS

wE: 'Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt tVtS mi: DE:

KPA notational information

American English using the Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA)

wE: "Iz mVI rUm

wE: "Iz D@ bi:tS

wE: "Iz D@ bA:

d@Unt tVtS mi: DE:

SAMPA notation information

notation comparison table on Don Blaheta's website

IPA information at Omniglot, Wikipedia, and Voices.com

[ translations grouped by writing system ]

The four essential
travel phrases in English:

1) Where is my room?
2) Where is the beach?
3) Where is the bar?
4) Don't touch me there!

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