Hello and welcome to Spell It Please! 👋 – a place for anyone familiar with the struggle of having to come up with words to spell something unexpectedly 😬. If you like spelling alphabets as little as me and cannot seem to remember the correct words, this website is made for you 🎉.
Why do you need website?
"Wait, first, what is a spelling alphabet?" OK, a spelling alphabet is a set of words used to stand for the letters of an alphabet in oral communication. For example, the word "alpha" is used to represent the letter "A", "bravo" for "B", and so on. There are official, used for example in aviation, and unofficial ones. If you are curious, you can explore more about spelling alphabets on Wikipedia.
"All right then, so if there are actually spelling alphabet a google or bing search away, why do I need this?" 🤔 You are correct, they are easy to find. However, there are three main issues with them. First and foremost, when you realize you need one, you are usually in a hurry. Once you found them, if the person on the other side of the line is not already trying to guess the spelling, searching the letters of the word you want to spell can be excruciatingly slow. With Spell It Please! you can just type in the word and get the spelling right away. No need to search for the letters.
Am I exaggerating? Maybe a little, but try to spell the word Teriyaki using the NATO phonetic alphabet below, and you'll see what I mean. It takes a while, doesn't it?
| Letter | Word | Letter | Word | Letter | Word | Letter | Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alpha | H | Hotel | O | Oscar | V | Victor |
| B | Bravo | I | India | P | Papa | W | Whiskey |
| C | Charlie | J | Juliet | Q | Quebec | X | X-ray |
| D | Delta | K | Kilo | R | Romeo | Y | Yankee |
| E | Echo | L | Lima | S | Sierra | Z | Zulu |
| F | Foxtrot | M | Mike | T | Tango | ||
| G | Golf | N | November | U | Uniform |
(Solution: T as in Tango, E as in Echo, R as in Romeo, I as in India, Y as in Yankee, A as in Alpha, K as in Kilo, I as in India.)
Secondly, there are many spelling alphabets, sometimes dependent on regional variations. The aim of this website is to provide a single, consistent source for all your spelling needs. It wants to become the center of the spelling universe! 🔥
Lastly, you may not be familiar with the language of the spelling alphabet, and you need that extra little help to make sure that your interlocutor understands you. Spell It Please! provides you with two types of pronunciation aids: an English approximation of the pronunciation and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcription.
But... how does it work?
The idea is simple: choose your language, type in the word you want to spell, and the app will provide you with the correct spelling, using the chosen language's spelling alphabet.
But, as I said, it does not only look up the word for each letter you, if you're struggling with pronunciation, the website can also provide some help via pronunciation aids. Just explore the aids available by selecting and deselection the options above the table headers and keep the ones that works best for you. As an example, this is the same spelling as above, for the word Teriyaki, but with all options enabled ✅:
For those who are unfamiliar, the IPA is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was created in the 19th century by British and French language teachers, with the goal to visually represent the sounds of spoken language. It allows us to represent any sound from any language. The English approximation, on the other hand, provides a way to approximate the pronunciation using familiar English sounds. I will write more about IPA in the future, but for now, you can again learn more on Wikipedia.
A work in progress 🚧
That is all for now :). While I've done my best to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, there might be some mistakes. I am a language enthusiast, but I'm not a linguist, and this is only a side-project for now. Hence, if you spot any errors or inconsistencies, I would appreciate if you could let me know through the contact form on the about page. I am always looking to improve and your feedback will be invaluable for me. 🙏
The road map
So, what's next? As long as I find the time and the website garners some interest, I want to keep adding languages to the platform. Also, developing an iOS and Android app to make Spell It Please! more accessible would also be great.
Anyway, I am glad to have you here, and I hope you enjoy the website. Stay tuned for more updates! 📻