Basics - Good to know before starting

• organs of speech: The things you need when you speak - lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, palate, glottis etc. (you can find a picture here)

• voiced sounds: The vocal cords/folds are vibrating when the air from the lungs passes through them, for example /a/, /e/ and all other vowels, /m/, /n/, /z/.

• voiceless sounds: The vocal cords/folds are not vibrating because they are spread apart, for example /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, /f/.

• minimal pairs: There is only one difference between the sounds of two words but the meaning changes, for example bit/beat, sick/sock, site/side

• IPA symbols: international phonetic alphabet for writing down the sounds of languages.

Here are some phonetic glossaries on the Internet in case you run into any unfamiliar terms:

• Electronic Glossary of Linguistic Terms: Alphabetical list of terms with descriptions, phonetic symbols, pictures (e.g. places and organs of articulation) and tables, gives the equivalent terms also in Spanish.

• Linguistic Glossary: Alphabetical list of terms with short explanations.

• Reference Glossary of Pronunciation Terms: More focused glossary of phonetic terms.