The pronunciation of these four numbers has been changed to avoid any confusion. All the numbers, except 3, 4, 5 and 9 are pronounced in Standard English. NATO Phonetic Alphabet Code Words English AlphabetĪpart from the English alphabet, there are code words for numbers 0 to 9. The following table lists down the code words used for each English alphabet in NATO phonetic spelling system. The final choice of code words was done after hundreds and thousands of comprehension tests that involved people from at least 31 countries. To avoid any confusion or mishap in an emergency situation a standard set of spelling alphabet was necessary. If the pilot reports D as in Delta, T as in Tango… there won’t be any confusion. The flight number could be misunderstood as DP77, BP77, BT77, and TP77 and so on. Suppose a pilot flying a plane needed to communicate that flight number DT77 needs some technical support. The confusion and chances of blunder increased when the quality of the connection was poor or people on both ends of telephone lines had different languages or accents. This was needed to avoid any confusion while communicating over radio or telephone lines. You might wonder why, in the first place, the idea to create code words for alphabets was entertained. North Atlantic Treaty Organization Phonetic Alphabet.International Telecommunication Union Phonetic Alphabet.International Civil Aviation Organization Phonetic Alphabet.International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet.The codes are also used in written communication by the military.Ĭurrently, the system is officially denoted by several names – It is still the most widely used code word in everyday civilian and military life. Hence, the codes developed by NATO got universal acceptance. Spellings of a few code words were changed to facilitate their use. The modified codes developed by NATO in 1956 were found to be convenient to French and Spanish speakers in addition to the English speakers. Thus, the need for modification was felt. But, some words were found to be ineffective in real-life situations. It means all the 26 letters of the English alphabet were represented by words beginning with that letter. The codes used by ICAO too were acrophony to the 26 letters of English alphabets. These code words were used to clearly exchange voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of language difference or quality of connection. In 1956, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) modified the then-current set of code words used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Let us give you more information about the system that is successfully being used universally for decades. If yes, you have already seen practical use of the NATO phonetic alphabet. You might have seen movies or dramas where military people use terms like Alpha, Bravo, Charlie to represent A, B and C respectively. It is especially useful for people from different regions, with different accents and pronunciations work together. It is useful to prevent spelling mistakes or miscommunication. NATO phonetic alphabet is the most widely used radiotelephone spelling system.
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