<p>The Urdu letters and words described in this book are each accompanied by a pronunciation key in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Please refer to these IPA keys for the exact pronunciation of a Urdu letter or word.</p><p> The IPA is a scientific notation used for accurately transcribing the sounds of most human languages. More about the IPA can be found at <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/">http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipa">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipa</a> .</p><p> The similarities describedin this book between the pronunciations of Urdu letters and 'corresponding' English letters are only <i>guidelines</i> and should be considered as such.</p>