
#I cao spelling alphabet berthe wiktionary code#
The code word Quebec is pronounced as French "keh-beck". Papa is pronounced "Pa-PAH" with the accent on the second syllable instead of the first. Oscar is pronounced "oss-cah" and Victor as "vik-tah" without the 'r', even by people who would normally pronounce it. Some of the 26 words have altered pronunciations: Charlie can be either "char-lee" or "shar-lee", and Uniform is either "you-nee-form" or "oo-nee-form", neither of which is the English pronunciation of the word. The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet assigned code words acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet so that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language or the presence of transmission static. Although often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets do not have any association with phonetic transcription systems, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet, more accurately known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet and also called the ICAO phonetic or ICAO spelling alphabet, as well as the ITU phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. To change one word involves reconsideration of the whole alphabet to ensure that the change proposed to clear one confusion does not itself introduce others.Not to be confused with International Phonetic Alphabet.įAA radiotelephony alphabet and Morse code chart One of the firmest conclusions reached was that it was not practical to make an isolated change to clear confusion between one pair of letters.

It is known that has been prepared only after the most exhaustive tests on a scientific basis by several nations. Numbers are spoken as English digits, but with the pronunciations of three, four, five, nine, and thousand modified. "Alfa" and "Juliett" are intentionally spelled as such to avoid mispronunciation NATO would do the same with "Xray". The 26 code words are as follows (ICAO spellings): Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

The words were chosen to be accessible to speakers of English, French and Spanish.Īlthough spelling alphabets are commonly called "phonetic alphabets", they should not be confused with phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. In 1956, NATO modified the then-current set of code words used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this modification then became the international standard when it was accepted by ICAO that year and by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) a few years later. The specific code words varied, as some seemingly distinct words were found to be ineffective in real-life conditions.

#I cao spelling alphabet berthe wiktionary series#
To create the code, a series of international agencies assigned 26 code words acrophonically to the letters of the Roman alphabet, with the intention of the letters and numbers being easily distinguishable from one another over radio and telephone, regardless of language barriers and connection quality. FAA radiotelephony alphabet and Morse code chart Problems playing this file? See media help.
