Question about IPA

Today’s question is from a Spanish speaker:  “Sometimes I  search in a dictionary how to pronounce some words but the IPA symbols can make me confused. For example:  /ɑ/ like in father ; /ɒ/  in hot; /a/ in eye.  Is the same “a” sound? Or just graphic differences?   Thank you ” First, I do not use IPA since [&hellip