The ICAO Alphabet is a system of using specific, easily understood words to stand for letters when spelling out loud or when giving combinations of letters and numbers.

The International Civil Aviation Organization Phonetic Alphabet (the ICAO Alphabet is also called the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, but is not really a phonetic alphabet at all. It is a system of using specific, easily understood words to stand for letters when spelling out loud or when giving combinations of letters and numbers. This spelling alphabet was developed for aviation and shipping for clarity of communication over the radio. It is also used by the military, the police, and many, many organizations around the world.

Speakers of English as a Second Language can use this spelling alphabet to be sure their listener correctly understands or correctly writes down their name and address or other important information, like alpha-numeric combinations in passwords, postal codes, or even airline confirmation numbers, which is another story. (See the article Clarity in Speech for Important Information.)

Below is the ICAO Spelling Alphabet. The recording gives more common pronunciations for the words than in the strict version used for radio, but these pronunciations will not sound unusual in day-to-day use.

Play the recording and practice speaking the words. Record and play back individual words with Nanogong Voice Recorder. If you play the whole list and record with Nanogong at the same time, you can play back both together and easily compare your pronunciation with the model.

(Top of Page)