
About the chart
- Pure vowels are arranged the same way as in the IPA chart: according to mouth shape (left to right, lips wide / round - top to bottom, jaw closed / open).
- Diphthongs are grouped in rows according to their second sound.
Try some pronunciation activities
- Telephone number pronunciation
- What's the pronunciation?
- Pronunciation of past simple verbs
- Phonemic symbols to download
- Using the phonemic chart for autonomous learning
Downloads
You can download a non-interactive image version of the British Council's phonemic chart below.
Sounds Right app
The interactive phonemic chart is available for you to download from the Google Play store for Android devices or the App store for Apple devices. Find out more about the interactive mobile app version of the phonemic chart
Comments
Phonemic chart
Hi Lenisme
Thanks for your message. We have updated this chart to include sounds that were missing. The /i:/ sound can be written with a capital or small i (this is just a matter of style/design).
Hope that helps,
Cath
Teachingenglish team
phonemic chart
The best way is to have the phonemic chart as a poster in the office and the classroom for continuous revision.
Chart sounds
Hi and you'll find it in the App linked to the course: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.britishcouncil.phonemicchart&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Are you able to access that?
Best regards,
Anne
TeachingEnglish team
Only in the App is it up to date!
Hello, it is true, in the downloadable image it is not updated with the diphthong "ʊə". Please update it. Thank you in advance for all the effort you have put in.
flash player
The app was finished in 2020. What are the option to open the file? FLASH PLAYER
Flash player
Hi,
we no longer have the Flash files available. The best way to access the interactive phonemic chart is to download the Sounds Right App. You can find the link to this on the page.
Thanks
Paul
Available for MAC OS?
Hi, is the chart still unavailable for MAC OS users?
missing diphthong in phonemic chart?
Useles
You're absolutely right. It…
You're absolutely right. It's a burden for both teachers and learners😓
Request
Phonemic chart app
Why is there no /ʊə/ diphthong?
Phonemic chart
the diphthong in 'tourist'
The chart
What's happened to the /ʊə/?
useful for teaching for all ages
doubt on short vowel i
Hi - I can't see the word
query on i and ɪ symbols
Fantastic to use the chart
All very well but...
Download options
A download option for Mac users is something that we might be able to offer in the future. Thanks for your suggestion Chrislann!
Sally
PHONEMIC CHART
This is really incredible.This chart can be useful both for teachers of English and students.I really thank the TE Editor for publishing and making it accessible to learners
Phonemic chart
The phonemic chart was very useful. but personally, i want to download it in the form of mp3 as i did in cambridge dictionary. i download a single word and play it in winamp without conneting to internet. i have tried to download the individulal sound when i play it but my internet downloader cannot catch the sound so i cannot download it as i did in cambridge dictionary. could you give advice how to download it?
Downloading
Hi there
I'm afraid this chart isn't downloadable right now - I hope it will be more widely accessible in future though.
Best wishes
Rob
The missing diphthong
Hi everyone
Thanks again for your contribution to the discussion here. We've just relaunched the chart with the /ʊə/ sound which was previously missing. This is available as an iPad app and will also be updated here soon.
Rob
Teaching & learning pronunciation
I've written a post on teaching & learning pronunciation, with links to videos and other interactive phonetic chart, including this one here, of course ;-)
Do have a browse, and feedback would be most appreciated: Teaching & Learning Pronunciation
Cheers!
Chiew
Phonetic Transcription
Re: photransedit, it's a wild application; you may like to read my review of it here.
Cheers!
Photransedit is great...but
Hi,
Yes, Photransedit is great.... but I've found a discrepancy:
Example: noise
It's /ˌnɔɪz / in American translation, but /noiz/ in RP/British.
It's the same for all uses of ˌ/ɔɪ/, offline and online.
I've emailed them about it.
Phil
PhoTransEdit error
Hi Darwin,
No doubt a typo - happens to the best of us. After all, we don't use /oi/, do we? I won't be surprised if there are other errors, too, but if we help them improve their database, it'll be good for all of us.
Regards,
A good free phonetic transcription application
Hi,
"PhoTransEdit" is a good phonetics application, available at http://www.photransedit.com/
Not perfect British English - but you can download it and try.
Cheers
Phil
Google chrome + diphthong
Sorry to those of you who have had problems on Chrome - I've also found it frustrating as it works sometimes and not others. It's bewildering but we'll do what we can to improve it.
Thanks for further comments on the diphthong, and interesting to read the OED's key to pronunciation. As much as anything it made me think of a question which comes back time and again: which English (and which sounds) should we teach?
Not too well on Google Chrome
I'm afraid the chart doesn't work very well on Google Chrome. I refer to the sounds. It's hard to elaborate because it isn't something constant. Due to Murphy's Law, right now, when I wanted to determine the exact problem, it works fine. Sometimes, it works once, then stops working altogether. Sounds like I'm rambling on, don't I?
Done away with /ʊə/ ?
We used to talk about 44 sounds including the ʊə (as in cure). How can we take it in to account?
Phonemic chart
Thanks everyone for your comments so far.
Abrar Tahir - I'm afraid the chart isn't available for download at the moment.
Rob
I've written a phonetic chart application too...
Hi, I've just joined and this is my first post here. It's great to have a place to share ideas with like minded people! :)
I agree with the comments above, some of the unvoiced consonants are voiced here. I also think that the dipthong pronunciation is a little over-emphatic and unrealistic. These are things that are easy to remedy and the layout's attractive. I'm not sure what the "try", "think", "talk" and "transform" icons are meant to represent or what they do. I was redirected to an unrelated web page.
I've written a phonetic/phonemic chart of my own that runs in Moodle, the leading open source learning management system used by the UK's OU and other universities, colleges and schools around the world. I'd be interested in hearing your feedback. I wrote a blog article about it here: http://matbury.com/wordpress/2010/05/12/dynamic-phonetic-chart-application/ There's a link to the demo from there.
All the best,
Matt
Hi!
I saw in the chart /iː/ is replaced by /ɪː/. I wonder if that's the new way to transcribe the high front vowel.