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Hi! Got an English text and want to see how to pronounce it? This online converter of English text to IPA phonetic transcription will translate your English text into its phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Paste or type your English text in the text field above and click “Show transcription” button (or use [Ctrl+Enter] shortcut from the text input area).

Features:

  • Choose between British and American* pronunciation. When British option is selected the [r] sound at the end of the word is only voiced if followed by a vowel, which follows British phonetic convention.
  • The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols used.
  • The structure of the text and sentences in it (line breaks, punctuation marks, etc.) is preserved in phonetic transcription output making it easier to read.
  • An option to vary pronunciation depending on whether words are in stressed or weak position in the sentence, as in connected speech (checkbox “Show weak forms”). Weak forms are italicized in the output.
  • Words in CAPS are interpreted as acronyms if the word is not found in the database. Acronym transcriptions will be shown with hyphens between letters.
  • In addition to commonly used vocabulary the database contains a very substantial amount of place names (including names of countries, their capitals, US states, UK counties), nationalities and popular names.
  • You can output the text and its phonetic transcription along each other side-by-side or line-by-line to make back-reference to the original text easier. Just tick the appropriate checkbox in the input form.
  • Where a word has a number of different pronunciations (highlighted in blue in the output) you can select the one that agrees with the context by clicking on it. To see a popup with a list of possible pronunciations move your mouse cursor over the word.
    Note that different pronunciations of one word may have different meanings or may represent variations in pronunciation with the same meaning. If unsure which pronunciation is relevant in your particular case, consult a dictionary.
  • The dictionary database is regularly amended with most popular missing words (shown in red in the output).
  • The text can be read out loud in browsers with speech synthesis support (Safari, Chrome).
*) American transcriptions are based on the open Carnegie Mellon University Pronouncing Dictionary.

We encourage students of linguistics/phonetics to do their own work during their assignments and remind them that submitting transcriptions produced by this website for academic credit is a breach of academic integrity.

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Jamie
Jamie
2 days ago

Is there any way to get a narrow transcription? Instead of just broad?

Katarina
Katarina
3 days ago

Why are the words all and door both transcribed with ɔ in American English when the vowels don’t sound the same at all?

Cyntia
Cyntia
3 days ago

alophones of practise?

Misha
Misha
4 days ago

I wanted to ask if it might be feasible for you to consider the development of a chrome extension that could convert text from a pdf doc into its corresponding phonetic transcription. It would be really helpful.

gryph
gryph
2 days ago
Reply to  toPhonetics

what are those reasons because Misha had a really good idea

Asha
Asha
4 days ago

whats the phonetic transcription for belna

Brenda
Brenda
5 days ago

gerontological /ˌdʒɛrəntəˈlɒdʒɪkəl/

Oscar
Oscar
8 days ago

Thank you for bringing back the weak forms alternatives in blue.

GEM
GEM
9 days ago

“The” should also have the alternate transcription of /ðə/.

Luciana
Luciana
9 days ago

How can I add a missing word? I wrote “persimmon” and it didn’t show the transcription (pərˈsimən)

Ale M
Ale M
9 days ago

can you put the site in Italian too please? i want to direct italian students here