LearnEnglish Sounds Right

LearnEnglish Sounds Right is the British Council’s free pronunciation chart for learners and teachers of English worldwide.

Learners of English

Do you have difficulty with the sounds and pronunciation of the English language, or with understanding the symbols of the phonemic alphabet? With LearnEnglish Sounds Right on your phone or tablet you can practise anywhere and anytime. Just tap a sound and you will hear it. Tap the downward arrow sign and listen to three example words with that sound.

Teachers of English

Do you use phonemic script in class to help your students with their pronunciation? With LearnEnglish Sounds Right installed on your class set of devices, or your students’ own devices, you can teach the individual sounds and symbols easily.

The 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).
The diphthongs are grouped in rows according to their second sound.
The consonants are arranged from left (front of mouth) to right (back of mouth). The top two rows of consonants are paired (top row – unvoiced, second row – voiced). When you tap a plosive consonant, the schwa (ə) appears. This is because the plosives were recorded with a schwa for clarity.

We hope you enjoy using this chart! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Go to Google Play

Go to App Store

Hello. Are all these expressions the same? How can I use them well? It looks good. It sounds good. It feels good. It seems good. It appears good. Can I say "The hotel has a nice view. It sounds lovely."? Thank you.

Hello Ahmed Imam, We'll be happy to answer your question but please first post it on a relevant page rather than an Apps page. This page is relevant, for example: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar/adjectives Posting questions on relevant pages helps other users to find useful information. ~ Peter The LearnEnglish Team

I am an English teacher in China and I'm looking for a good app for my students to use for pronunciation practice. I like what I see here and I want to recommend your app to my students. However, they cannot access Google Play here. Is there another way for the android users in my class to download this app?

i can't use it to listen sound of each symbol

Is it for Windows too?

The apps isnot available on microsoft

Hi Experts, I just want to download this useful app to my IPhone, but it seems that only run in Ipad. Is it possible to run in IPhone7? Thanks a lot!

Great app. Thanks.

Could you please shown how the mouth and tongue movement when pronoun the phonetic.

Can we have this app for android ph?? Plzzz

Hi there,

Unfortunately, the app is only available for iPad and iPad mini right now. You can access the phonemic chart on your Android device by visiting the chart on the Teaching English website: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart.

You will need to use the Firefox app and make sure you have the Adobe Air app installed (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.air).

Hope this helps! We hope you continue to enjoy using the LearnEnglish apps!

Best wishes,
Ray
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

Very good app however, no responds have been made to answer LittleMoon86's question about the diphthong /ʊə/ ... Believe that it was missed out to be included in the chart and you will be adding it to as soon as possible in an update to the app. You're the best, thanks!

Hi Jobzy,

Thanks for leaving us a comment! That's right, the diphthong /ʊə/ is not on the interactive chart on this page at the moment, but if you will see it if you download the Sounds Right app.

I'll pass on your feedback to the team about adding this diphthong on the chart.

Do check out our other smartphone and tablet app as well: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps.

Best wishes,

Jasmine
The LearnEnglish Mobile Team

Can we've this App for iPhone also?,

Hi there,

Thank you for your interest in the Sounds Right app! Unfortunately the app is only available for iPad and iPad mini right now, but I'll pass your feedback on to our development team.

Your feedback is very valuable to us, and will help us to improve our apps. We hope you continue to enjoy learning through our apps!

Best wishes,
Ray
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

hello . Thanks so much for that App . could i ask please where is the diphthong /ʊə/ which is used in words like tour , pure , cure ?. Thanks i have founded it in BBC site.

Hi there,

Checked that the diphthong ʊə is not showing on the chart on this page, but actually you can see it when you download the Sounds Right app on the ipad.

Thank you for your message, and we hope you continue to enjoy learning through our apps!

Best wishes,
Ray
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

Isn't it available for android?

Hi there,

Unfortunately, the app isn't available for Android devices right now. You can still access the phonemic chart on your mobile through by visiting the phonemic chart on the Teaching English website: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart. You will need to use the Firefox app and make sure you have the Adobe Air app installed (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.air).

Hope this helps! We hope you continue to enjoy using the LearnEnglish apps!

Best wishes,

Jasmine
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

I've just downloaded the "Sounds Right" app to my iPad. However, there's no sound when I tap each word on the table! Please advise me what to do to make things happen!

Hi there,

We're sorry to hear that you're having problems with the Sounds Right app. We've just tested the app on our devices as well but it's working fine and we can hear all the sounds. Could you get in touch with us directly by pressing the Help button in the app? We'd like to know what version of the app you are using, what device you are on (iPad1, 2 or mini etc) and what OS you're on as well.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best wishes,

Jasmine
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry good

This is an excellent app for those who wants to speak with a proper british accent. The bad new is that is only available in the apple store. When do you think it is going to be available for android platform? Best regards.

LearnEnglish Team

Could this sound chart help us to pronounce a word that we haven't learn before ? Honestly, I haven't seen this sound chart before. The way I learn a word is by memorizing the sound or by listening from other speakers and memorize it. Does this way learning is correct? If I memorize all the sounds here , would it be easier for me for pronounce a word that I haven't seen before .

I appreciate your comments for this issue.

Hi jaydenlee,

It's great to learn how to pronounce words by listening to other speakers and memorizing the pronunciation, but many dictionaries, textbooks and teachers use this kind of sound chart as another technique.

The sound chart can be useful when you find a transcription of new words. For example, if you see a word in a dictionary, knowing the chart will help you understand how to read the transcription there.

I would recommend that you experiment and then you can follow the method or methods that work best for you.

Best wishes,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

I am trying to practice even if i feel myself not pronouncing well, I don't know what is the best way to say it write always i have difficulty with pronouncing (look, lock ,book, good) also other words too, I hope to say it write

Please launch Android version as it will helps us during our english course without walking out and click on the electronic board by ourself

I want Android version of this app too. Please launch Android version.

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest in the Sounds Right app! Unfortunately we don't have the Android version at the moment, but I'll pass your feedback on to our development team.

Your feedback is very valuable to us, and will help us to improve our apps. We hope you continue to enjoy learning through our apps!

Best wishes,

Ray
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

When is this going to be available on Android?

-or are Apple sponsoring it so we won't get it?

:=)

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest in the Sounds Right app! Unfortunately, we have no plans to launch the app for Android at the moment, but I'll definitely pass your feedback on to our development team.

Do check out our other apps though and let us know what you think. We hope you continue to enjoy learning through the British Council's LearnEnglish apps!

Best wishes,

Jasmine
The LearnEnglish Mobile team

Hi there,I want to know how can I download it so with that address could n't been useful

Hi there,

You can download this app by clicking the black "Available on the App Store" badge under the "Download now" box. You can also download the Sounds Right app through this link here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/sounds-right/id387588128?mt=8

We hope you continue to enjoy learning through the British Council's LearnEnglish apps!

Best wishes,

Jasmine

The LearnEnglish Mobile team

can i download it for my students................................... i need it

Hi there,

You can download this iPad app through the iTunes App Store. Simply click the App Store Badge in the Download Box above, or follow this link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/sounds-right/id387588128?mt=8.

Be sure to check out our other LearnEnglish apps! We hope you continue to enjoy learning English with us!

Best wishes,

Jasmine

The LearnEnglish Mobile team

Hello chughtai.

You can download the app (for free) from the itunes app store:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/sounds-right/id387588128?mt=8

You can download the chart itself to your computer from our sister site, TeachingEnglish:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart

I hope you and your students enjoy using it!

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

That's good!!!

I have been learning for a while. However, being in a non-English speaking environment does not help at all. Luckily, i found this website that provides insightful English learning tips. I hope to improve my pronunciation and learn from the other Net-surfers as well.

hello!

hi Maroosh TNM.

how to communique with you.

hi i m new here... i want 2 improve my english.... i actually want 2 express my feelings in proper & fluent english ..

hiii every on i'm new here can you help me to improve my english conversation by chat with som friends

yeah sure

Welcome. Please, how would like people to call you, Maroosh or TMN?

It will be a great privilege to chat with you.

I am Ouedraogo Dramane but calle me Dramane, Dra-man. I am an EFL teacher in Burkina Faso, west Africa.

Pleased to meet you.

enjoyable

good way to learn pronucetion.

That's good!!!

Very good..

in fact this box of phonitics so useful to because it gives me a right voices of letters.

thnk you alot

Hello,everyone.