These are letters that really aren't sounds, but just exhalations of breath.
| Letter | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| h | hot him | This is the sound of breathing out with the mouth open. It should be sort and sweet. |
| s | say yes | This is breathing out with the tongue resting on the teeth. While vibrating this should be short and sweet as well. If it lasts longer than a half second you are impersonating a snake and not vibrating. |
| w | will woman | Pucker your lips, vibrate and breath out. Commonly this can be changed with the V, though the W is the older form. |
| z | zebra breeze | This is breathing out with the tongue resting on the teeth but with a little trill to it. Like the others this is short and sweet. |
These are letters that involve vibrating the vocal chords while breathing out air. Modern English has ten to twelve vowels but only five letters to represent them!
| Symbol | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| a | apple can | This is the short 'A'. Quick and easy. Almost never used in magic. |
| ä | father calm | This is what the doctor makes you say when you open your throat. Nearly all A's are pronounced like this. Your mouth and jaw should be fully open to say this properly. |
| á | age face | The long A that sounds like its own name. This is seldom used. In an ideal world a macron (strait line) would be over the 'A' instead of the angled accent mark, but that is not defined in ASCII. Your mouth should be slightly less open than an 'Ä'. |
| e | let bet | Short 'E'. This is often substituted with 'Á'. |
| é | equal bee | Long E that sounds like its name. Often this sound is spelled with the letter 'I', but not on this site. Teeth should be together and lips pulled back to say it properly. |
| i | it pin | Short 'I', almost never used in magic, though here for completeness. |
| í | ice five | Long 'I', usually spelled in magic texts as "AI" or "AE" though the latter is mostly for Latin. Mouth and jaw should be fully open to say this properly. |
| o | hot rock | Short 'O', almost never used. |
| ó | open go | Long 'O'. Mouth should form a nice open 'O' to say this, but it should not puckered out. |
| u | cup butter | Short 'U', almost never used. |
| ú | use uniform | Long 'U', mouth should form a tight small 'O' and be puckered out as if whistling. |
The Latin a.k.a. Italian vowels are the most common in magical and musical practices. They are A, E, I, O, U pronounced as ä, á, é, ó, ú respectively. Master these and everything else comes easily. While practicing exaggerate your mouth motions to get the full tones.
These are letters that vibrate the vocal chords but do not require breathing or passing of air. Thus they can be held indefinitely. An acronym to remember them is Lemon Row.
| Letter | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| l | land coal | Put your tongue a little bit behind your teeth and vibrate. |
| m | mom mop | Press your lips together and hum. |
| n | noon no | Press about have your tongue on the roof of your mouth and vibrate. |
| r | race run | Pull back your tongue a bit and vibrate. |
| v | save vase | Curl your bottom lip, place your teeth on it and vibrate. Commonly this can be interchanged with a W. |
These are the letters that halt the breathing between vowels. To properly pronounce them alone though throat should not vibrate. The only noises made should come from the teeth, lips, tongue, and breath. Here is a chart to classify them.
| Stop | Vocal | Aspire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | p | b | f |
| Glottal | k | g | ch sh |
| Dental | t | d | ð þ |
Now for some comments on the chart. Labial means that the lips are the being moved to say it. Glottal means that the sounds are from the back of the throat. Dental means that the teeth are being used. To get the idea say the letters across in rows. Notice how the progression of the same sound as the vocal chords become more active. Stops are very short and only movements of the mouth and parts. Vocals have vibrations like liquid mute but are very slight. Aspirates have short exhalations of breath. Say the letters in the columns to get the gist of those.
| Letter | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| b | bear bug | Flip out your lips and give a little vibration. This is the progression of the letter "V" and is sometimes substituted for it in Hebrew. |
| ch | church chew | Breath out while moving the back of your throat. On this site the letter 'C' will always be paired with the letter 'H' and it will be soft. This is usually opposite what most books tell its users. However since 'K' is used instead of 'C' and there are very few words that use the soft 'Ch' this will not be a huge problem. |
| d | dog dear | Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and vibrate. |
| ð | thee these | Flip your tongue like saying a 'D' but breath out a bit. This is the soft 'Th' and sometimes spelled as 'Dh'. This occurs with the Hebrew letter of Daleth. If you do not think about it it usually comes out right. |
| f | fat fun | Curl your bottom lip over your teeth and flip it out with a little breath. The "F" sound is the result of slurring the "Ph" sound. |
| g | goat girl | Vibrate the back of your throat for the Hard G. Never ever ever will a 'G' in this site be used as a 'J'. |
| k | kite kick | Move your tongue a bit in the back of the throat for a K. You will never see the letter 'C' on this site for any pronunciation except |
| p | pop pull | Just flip out your lips. |
| sh | shoe she | This is the softer alternative of the "Ch". |
| t | top turn | Just flip your tongue against your teeth. |
| þ | thin smooth | Flip your tongue as if saying a 'T' and breath out. This is the hard 'Th'. This occurs with the Hebrew letter of Tau. Like the 'Dh' if you do not think about it it usually comes out right. |
These are letters that can be as vowels or consonants which can lead to funny spellings such as EHEIEH (e-hé-ye).
| Letter | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| j | jam job | This is the shorter version of the consonantal 'I' and interchangeable with it in spelling. |
| y | yahoo young | This is how the consonantal 'I' is pronounced. |
The rest are just combinational sounds usually two consonants or vowels. Usually you can get the proper sound by blending the letters together.
| Letter | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| au | house out | This is the sound a person makes when they get hurt. |
| kw | quick quirk | The letter 'Q' in English is a digraph with the letter 'U'. In Hebrew it is a more emphatic and guttural 'K' and thus written as such. |
| oi | oil voice | This is the same as a pig's noise. |
| ks | box fox | This is what the letter 'X' is in English. |
Here are sound files of me pronoucing the letters and examples.
| Package | Letters | KB |
|---|---|---|
| Aspirates | h s w z | 444 |
| A Vowels | a ä á | 322 |
| E Vowels | e é | 289 |
| I Vowels | i í | 288 |
| O Vowels | o ó | 234 |
| U Vowels | u ú | 230 |
| Liquid Mutes | l m n r v | 407 |
| Consonants 1 | b ch d ð f g | 776 |
| Consonants 2 | k p sh t þ | 645 |
| Labial Consonants | p b f | 212 |
| Glottal Consonants | k g ch sh | 279 |
| Dental Consonants | t d ð þ | 276 |
| Consonantal Vowels | j y | 251 |
| Digraphs and Diphthongs | au kw oi ks | 322 |
| All (Zipped) | 4854 |