Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It

by Gabriel Wyner

Every IPA letter is not only a sound but also a set of instructions on how to make that sound. This is super useful. When I began Hungarian, I looked up the sounds of that language on Wikipedia. Hungarian has a few odd sounds, including ɟ͡ʝ, which is basically our j as in jar if you keep the front of your tongue touching your bottom teeth. I’ve never spoken to a Hungarian about this, and no one has ever told me to put my tongue in that weird position. The IPA symbols themselves spell it out for me, and they can do it for you, too. There are two barriers in the way: the IPA is usually full of nasty technical jargon and it uses weird-looking symbols. I can’t get rid of the symbols—English uses twenty-six letters for forty-two sounds; a phonetic alphabet needs extra symbols—but I can show you a way around the jargon. In general, you only need three pieces of information to make any sound: you need to know what to do with your tongue, with your lips, and with your vocal cords, and there aren’t that many options. Your vocal cords go on and off. That’s it—it’s the only difference between “ssss” and “zzzz.” When you’re speaking vowels, your lips are basically rounded like “oo” or not. That’s all. The rest of the IPA focuses upon the location and behavior of your tongue.