It's quite common that the person youâ™re speaking to can mishear you. Have you ever had problems spelling out your name or another message over the phone? The alphabet was declassified by NATO and can be heard in both military and civilian situations. Itâ™s the official one used by NATO allies to communicate when spelling out letters or digits. More accurately known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (IRSA), or ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet is an alphabet used specifically for spelling out voice messages. Thus, comes a unified alphabet system that can minimize the chances of miscommunication - the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. For Example, B, C, and D, all of which sound very similar, especially over radio communication. The code word â Charlieâ was used to avoid confusion between different checkpoints. This marked the crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. You may have even visited a historical landmark which uses a spelling alphabet, like Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. Youâ™ve probably heard spelling alphabets being used in movies and on TV. But instead, your unit heads for BA98, having misheard the radio message.Īvoiding a critical situation like this is why we have phonetic spelling alphabets. You receive orders to make your way to the extraction point: go to map grid DH98. Imagine that youâ™re on the ground in a military operation. The most prominent modern-day code is the NATO phonetic alphabet.

But, the alphabets have actually been invented to avoid the fatal results that some spelling mistakes can have.Â Spelling alphabets are used to make radio messages as easily understood as possible especially by the military. You may not think that spelling can be a life or death matter.

English spelling alphabet