Reading the IPA — your pronunciation key
These are all the IPA symbols used in this book, with the closest English approximation. Central Catalan has a small, regular sound system: master this page and the transcriptions do the rest.
Vowels
| IPA | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | "a" in father (short) | casa /ˈkazə/ — first a |
| ə | "a" in sofa (the schwa — very common!) | casa /ˈkazə/ — second a |
| ɛ | "e" in bed (open) | set /ˈsɛt/ |
| e | "ay" in say, but short, no glide | més /ˈmes/ |
| i | "ee" in see | sis /ˈsis/ |
| ɔ | "o" in British hot (open) | bo /ˈbɔ/ |
| o | "o" in note, short, no glide | tot /ˈtot/ |
| u | "oo" in food | tu /ˈtu/ |
| w, j | glides: "w" in cow /aw/, "y" in boy /ɔj/ | nou /ˈnɔw/, mai /ˈmaj/ |
The golden rule of Central Catalan: unstressed a and e are pronounced /ə/, and unstressed o is pronounced /u/. That's why Barcelona is /bəɾsəˈlonə/ and color is /kuˈlo/.
Consonants that differ from English
| IPA | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ʎ | "lli" in million (spelt ll) | lluny /ˈʎuɲ/ |
| ɲ | "ni" in onion (spelt ny) | any /ˈaɲ/ |
| ʃ | "sh" in shop (spelt x) | peix /ˈpeʃ/ |
| ʒ | "s" in measure (spelt j, g+e/i) | jo /ˈʒɔ/ |
| tʃ | "ch" in church (spelt tx, final -ig) | cotxe /ˈkɔtʃə/, maig /ˈmatʃ/ |
| dʒ | "j" in jam (spelt tj/tg) | formatge /fuɾˈmadʒə/ |
| β | a soft "b" with lips barely touching | avi /ˈaβi/ |
| ð | "th" in this, soft | cada /ˈkaðə/ |
| ɣ | a soft "g", throat relaxed | amiga /əˈmiɣə/ |
| ɾ | single tap, like American "tt" in butter | cara /ˈkaɾə/ |
| r | rolled/trilled r (rr, or word-initial r) | carrer /kəˈre/ |
| ŋ | "ng" in sing | cinc /ˈsiŋk/ |
| ˈ | stress mark — the NEXT syllable is stressed | català /kətəˈla/ |
Three habits worth knowing: written v sounds like b (/b/ or /β/); b/d/g between vowels soften to /β ð ɣ/; and the final -r of infinitives is silent: parlar /pəɾˈla/, dormir /duɾˈmi/.
Learn the IPA itself (verified links)
• Wikipedia "Help:IPA/Catalan" — the exact symbol key for Catalan, with English example words → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Catalan
• Interactive IPA charts with audio — click any symbol to hear it (find the Catalan sounds using the table below) → jbdowse.com/ipa
• Full interactive IPA chart with sounds (all languages) → internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds
• What the IPA is (background) → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
• Hear real words: Forvo's Catalan dictionary, ~125,000 native recordings → forvo.com/languages/ca
• Interactive IPA charts with audio — click any symbol to hear it (find the Catalan sounds using the table below) → jbdowse.com/ipa
• Full interactive IPA chart with sounds (all languages) → internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds
• What the IPA is (background) → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
• Hear real words: Forvo's Catalan dictionary, ~125,000 native recordings → forvo.com/languages/ca