AUSTRALIAN RATEL | NATO Phonetic Alphabet & Numbers
- D. M. Wright
- May 13
- 2 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
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LETTERS, CODE WORDS AND PRONUNCIATIONS
The NATO phonetic alphabet (officially the "ICAO Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet") assigns code words to letters to ensure clear communication over radio or phone, especially during poor signal, high noise or language barriers.
Some words are spelt 'incorrectly'. This is intentional. This is primarily to aid non-English speakers to pronounce the word correctly over the radio. For example, if 'Juliett' was spelt 'Juliet', French speakers are likely to pronounce the word 'Ju-li-e', not 'Ju-li-et'.
It is spelt 'Alfa', not 'Alpha', as non-English speakers tend to pronounce it 'Alp-ha' not 'Al-fa'.
Letter | Code Word | Pronunciation |
A | Alfa | AL-fah |
B | Bravo | BRAH-voh |
C | Charlie | CHAR-lee |
D | Delta | DEL-tah |
E | Echo | EK-oh |
F | Foxtrot | FOKS-trot |
G | Golf | GOLF |
H | Hotel | hoh-TELL |
I | India | IN-dee-ah |
J | Juliett | JEW-lee-ETT |
K | Kilo | KEY-loh |
L | Lima | LEE-mah |
M | Mike | MIKE |
M | November | noh-VEM-ber |
N | Oscar | OSS-cah |
P | Papa | pah-PAH |
Q | Quebec | keh-BECK |
R | Romeo | ROW-me-oh |
S | Sierra | see-AIR-ah |
T | Tango | TANG-go |
U | Uniform | YOU-nee-form |
V | Victor | VIK-tah |
W | Whiskey | WISS-key |
X | Xray | EKS-ray |
Y | Yankee | YANG-key |
Z | Zulu | ZOO-loo |
NUMBERS AND PRONUNCIATIONS
Numbers are spelt as they are in English, however, to ensure they are both pronounced (by non-English speakers) and heard over the radio (as it is not always easy to differentiate one word from another), there are some slight variations.
DO NOT PRONOUNCE '0' as the letter 'O/o' ('Oh'). Always pronounce it as 'Zero'.
Note the extra syllables required for 4 and 9.
Number | Spelling | Pronunciation |
0 | Zero | ZE-ro |
1 | One | WUN |
2 | Two | TOO |
3 | Three | TREE |
4 | Four | FO-wer |
5 | Five | FIFE |
6 | Six | SIX |
7 | Seven | SE-ven |
8 | Eight | AIT |
9 | Nine | NI-ner |
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