Learn English’s Secret Code

Back in the day, when connecting to the internet made a WRRR-HEEE-WRR sound, AIM was the go-to messenger.  I remember sitting at my extremely large desk with metal drawers and all, staring at the huge monitor and rapidly typing: “LOL, you are my BFF but IDK y u wud like that. TTYL cuz I GtG.”  

That old internet slang was like a secret code. I was able to type faster and over time, develop personalized meanings. Let’s not mention what it did to my spelling though…Do you remember using messaging abbreviations? What was the name of the messenger you used? Maybe we both have grown out of internet slang, or we aren’t able to keep up with the current lingo.

But, there is a secret code for pronunciation. In fact, if you learn the symbols you theoretically could pronounce any sound for any language. Believe me?

It’s the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Instead of connecting letters to sounds, it connects sounds to symbols. This is especially helpful with languages that are not written how they sound, like English.

You’ve seen IPA before --- those symbols that appear next to a word in a dictionary. You may be thinking “Why is this important?” Well, did you know that J (dʒ) sound can be spelled with DR, DG,GI,GE,DU such as graduate, judge, and laundry. If you trust the spelling, you would be mispronouncing all of those words. But, if you learn the IPA symbol you would know how to pronounce it even if you didn’t know about the hidden spellings. 

Examples:

/ tɛkˈnɒl ə dʒi  = Technology

ˈɪŋ glɪʃ = English

 pʊl = pull

So, even though my old AIM messenger is obsolete, I still get to use secret code all the time for work. You should learn it too (IPA).

P.P.S. In case you don’t remember the sound for dial-up internet, here you go. Or if you want to know what AIM is, this is it. Maybe you want to brush up on internet slang. Have fun!

Your turn: Can you decipher these words? Type the answers below.

æn ə məl ɪŋ glɪʃ prəˌnʌn siˈeɪ ʃən