The International Phonetic Alphabet was designed as an INTERNATIONAL language. The spoken words assigned to each letter stand for the same letter in almost any language in common use throughout the world. Translation to another language may result in a different spelling of the word, but the first letter will be the same. Consequently, the alphabet was adopted by the International Telecommunications Union and is contained in an appendix to the ITU Radio Regulations. Canada is a signatory of this International agreement to use the standard phonetic alphabet.

The phonetic alphabet should be used for spelling out unusual names of persons and locations. They should always be given as "A" - Alpha, "B" - Bravo... never "A" as in alpha or "B" for bravo.