 Welcome! This unit introduces the central principles of phonetic transcription, the development of transcription systems and the principles of the International Phonetic Association. This includes the main notations used for the transcription of present-day English, in particular for received pronunciation and North American English. In the virtual session where, as usual, you can use the question sheet as default guide through the unit, we will discuss the main principles of phonetic transcription, we will look at the notations used for RP and North American English and we'll also deal with the effect of weakening in present-day English. The mastery worksheet is an RP transcription task where you have to listen and transcribe what you hear using our virtual keyboard. With some practice you shouldn't encounter too many problems. One of the practical deepens your transcription capabilities, focusing on the differences between RP and North American English. Quite a lot to do, but all this is important to analyze and transcribe dialectal data. In summary, quite complex, but manageable.