# Can you read IPA?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-ipa/847369>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 2, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-ipa/847369 "2020-02-02T05:26:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 33

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-ipa/847369/33 "2020-02-02T22:19:49Z")

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> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> … but I can’t say I’ve thought of a time where I personally had to communicate in writing to someone who needed to know how to pronounce something.

Discussion of pronunciation happens all the time on the SDMB. I don’t consider it a particularly esoteric or academic or specialized subject. All of us all the time are pronouncing things and hearing other people pronounce things, and around here people talk about pronuncation.

> [@](#):
>
> Which posts in this thread (or elsewhere) do you think that using IPA is offensive?

This is a viewpoint that comes up every once in a while here. “Don’t use those stupid dictionary symbols,” is a phrase stuck in my memory.

Here’s one example —

> [@IPA in the SDMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipa-in-the-sdmb/762291/63):
>
> IPA is totally messed up. An incredible hodgepodge of symbols that make no sense whatsoever. While a “universal” alphabet is desirable, the way the IPA has gone about it is unbelievably bad.
> 
> Avoid it around “normal” people. I.e., nearly everyone.

> [@](#):
>
> I can see that there are times when it is _unhelpful_ because it isn’t common knowledge. I mean, many many many more people will understand “to-MAH-to” than will understand “tʰə̥ˈmɐːtʰɐʉ”

I don’t know exactly how to respond to this, because it seems to be intentionally deceptive. I’ve posted in a lot of threads about pronunciation using I.P.A. and non-I.P.A. methods. I’ve never used a transcription like “tʰə̥ˈmɐːtʰɐʉ” to note a basic difference in alternative pronunciations of a word.

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