It is natural to assume that phonetic transcriptions are precise instructions on how to pronounce English words. I remember a time when I thought so, too. Over the years, I have realized that they are more like statistics: they can lie, and when they don’t lie, they don’t tell the whole truth.
In my new article (complete with audio recordings), I explain why phonetic transcriptions don’t give you the whole picture and can even be harmful if you take them too literally.
Read more in: “Things you should know about phonetic transcription”
