The Phonetic Alphabet – Call Center Training

How do you communicate to your customers?

We have all been there, on a phone call to a call center and trying to make sure that the spelling of a name or address etc is correct.  The the person in the call centre starts saying things like “A for apple” or “T for tree“. Great they are trying to help, but some words sound like eachother and if you do not hear the word you are expecting it both introduces errors and slows down the communication process.

Is it really beyond the training of people for them to learn the international phonetic alphabet? Its simple and with the aid of a printed memoir, often only takes a couple of hours to master.

The international phonetic alphabet was designed in a specific way, so that not only did the word representing the letter start with the letter concerned, but phonetically it sounds right and most importantly of all each words sounds nothing like any other. this was done to ensure that when used over a “crackly” radio signal the message was still clear.

In the table below we list the letter, the word representing the letter and the pronunciation, of the international phonetic alphabet.

Letter	Phonic Word	Pronunciation
A	Alpha	AL FAH
B	Bravo	BRAH VOH
C	Charlie	CHAR LEE
D	Delta	DEL TAH
E	Echo	ECK OH
F	Foxtrot	FOKS TROT
G	Golf	GOLF
H	Hotel	HO TELL
I	India	IN DEE AH
J	Juliet	JEW LEE ETT
K	Kilo	KEY LOH
L	Lima	LEE MAH
M	Mike	MIKE
N	November	NO VEM BER
O	Oscar	OSS CAH
P	Papa	PAH PAH
Q	Quebec	KEH BECK
R	Romeo	ROW ME OH
S	Sierra	SEE AIR RAH
T	Tango	TANG GO
U	Uniform	YOU NEE FORM
V	Victor	VIK TAH
W	Whiskey	WISS KEY
X	X-ray	ECKS RAY
Y	Yankee	YANG KEY
Z	Zulu	ZOO LOO

In the Pronunciation column of the table, bold is used to show emphasis. Please use this printable phonetic alphabet in your training or on your workspace.

The NATO or international phonetic alphabet is sometimes refered to as the English or British phonetic alphabet. It is also know as International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) phonetic alphabet.

---

RapidBI is an organizational effectiveness consultancy based in the UK but working internationally.
© RapidBI & Mike Morrison 2011 - this article/ page is free to copy and use on the condition that an active link back and reference is made to this site and page. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

---

Related posts that may be of interest to you:

1. Training Needs Analysis Template – Call Centre

3 Responses to “The Phonetic Alphabet – Call Center Training”