A typical use of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet would be to spell out each letter in a word over the phone by saying, for example: "S as in Sierra" (or "S for Sierra"), "E as in Echo, Y as in Yankee, F as in Foxtrot, R as in Romeo, I as in India, E as in Echo, D as in Delta" to communicate the spelling of the name "Seyfried" correctly.These are used to avoid misunderstanding due to difficult to spell words, different pronunciations or poor line communication. Spelling alphabets, such as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, consists of a set of words used to stand for alphabetical letters in oral communication.The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is instead a spelling alphabet (also known as telephone alphabet, radio alphabet, word-spelling alphabet, or voice procedure alphabet). Phonetic alphabets are used to indicate, through symbols or codes, what a speech sound or letter sounds like. Contrary to what its name suggests, the NATO Phonetic Alphabet is not a phonetic alphabet.military and has also been adopted by the FAA (American Federal Aviation Administration), ANSI (American National Standards Institute), and ARRL (American Radio Relay League). Thus this alphabet can be reffered as the ICAO/ITU/NATO Phonetic Alphabet or International Phonetic Alphabet.
The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Phonetic Alphabet is currently officially denoted as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (IRSA) or the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) phonetic alphabet or ITU (International Telecommunication Union) phonetic alphabet.Typically the alphabet would be spoken or written with dropped first-letters wherever appropriate, as in 'ay for 'orses. The alphabet is based on a child-like alphabet (A for Apple, etc), replacing the correct words to form puns. Its origins are uncertain, most probably evolving organically in Cockney London in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Not used by any important global standards organisations and certainly not recommended for use in confirming spellings, letters or words-it only confuses people!Īgain, there are different versions of this. See the full alphabet below:Īs mentioned earlier, there are other versions of the alphabet, but the NATO one above is the original and most widely used.įor amusement only. Used by communicators around the world to clarify letters and spellings. NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Spelling Alphabet) If possible, request they confirm your spelling. ‘G, Golf T, Tango W, Whisky,’ or ‘GTW, Golf Tango Whisky.’ The name John would be communicated as 'J: Juliet, O: Oscar, H: Hotel, N: November' or just, 'John – Juliet, Oscar, Hotel, November'. In less formal use, for example by customer service telephone staff, communications tend to give the letters and clarify with each corresponding alphabet word e.g. For example, a registration or call sign of GTW would be stated as "Golf Tango Whisky". Play to learn: Students drag and drop words from their word list to put them in alphabetical order. When used professionally by the police, military, or other governmental organisation in relaying abbreviations or letter codes, such as registrations, only the corresponding words are stated. Alphabetize turns this ordinary spelling and vocabulary assignment into an engaging activity. The IPA is far more complicated, and as well as by linguists, is utilised by speech therapists, language teachers, etc. The NATO phonetic alphabet used for confirming spelling and words should not be confused with the International Phonetic Alphabet ( IPA) used by linguist to confirm or analyse pronunciation and word sounds. Different versions exist – however, this is the original major standard and still the most widely used. The NATO phonetic alphabet is a useful reference for language and communications training and study. It was originally developed in the 1920s by the International Civil Aviation Organization and subsequently adopted by NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in 1956 among other significant global and national bodies covering telecommunications, maritime, and aviation. Most laypeople will be familiar with it from trying to spell their name or address with a customer service worker. It is used to identify letters precisely when communicating initials, abbreviations or the spellings of words. The phonetic language – also known as the 'spelling alphabet' or the NATO phonetic alphabet-is used by professional communicators like the police, military and other emergency and armed forces. Introduction to the NATO Phonetic Alphabet