Ideally, someone who never heard the original word or phrase should be able to recreate it simply by reading the written transcription out loud. You may wonder why we do not simply write everything down the way it is pronounced. Several attempts to do so have been made. For example George Bernard Shaw s proposed alphabet for English . The IPA uses one symbol for each separate sound.
Most symbols are from the roman alphabet.
The alphabet is used internationally. This means that it can be used for every language and that the symbols represent the same sounds in each language. If you do not know how to pronounce a word you can look it up in the dictionary and look at the transcription. Using the key to the phonetic symbols that are used, you should be able to pronounce the word. Have a look at your English language dictionary and find out how the pronunciation of words is indicated.