Phonetics is the study of the way human makes sound during the speech.The phonetics is concerned with the properties of sounds made during speech and how they are generated.Some special notations other than the alphabets of English are used to denote various sounds that has to be generated to pronounce any particular word.So, it is used with some symbols and examples to guide the speakers to pronounce any word in the correct way.The Alphabets which are used are called phonetics alphabets.The word phonetics comes from the
Greek word φωνή,
phone meaning 'sound'.
So, hundreds of these 'phones' are recognized by an organization called the
International Phonetic Association (IPA) and listed under
International Phonetic Alphabets.Phonetics was studied as early as 2,500 years ago in ancient India, with
Pāṇini's account of the place and manner of articulation of consonants in his 5th century BCE treatise on
Sanskrit. The major
Indic alphabets today, except
Tamil script, order their consonants according to
Pāṇini's classification.
A complete list of Phonetic Alphabets for English Language can be found
here. Nowadays, all the organizations has to compete on world level.Gone are the days even for many government organizations where there was no or very little competition from anywhere outside the country.This is equally true for all the countries.This has made many previously well known anti-English or strictly non-English countries to adopt the language for business.Languages are means of communication and English is a language that is used the most to connect people from all the regions of world.
The importance of phonetics emerges out here.On international level if the organizations are working they need people competent in that way also.Companies are looking now for people good in technology or their field of knowledge and having good communication skills too.The person must be good enough to at least explain the work he has done to people anywhere on globe.He/she must be adaptable enough to work in cross cultural groups.This depends on other things also like team working capabilities and interpersonal skills etc.But without good communication it is very difficult to achieve .This is not only beneficial for the hiring organizations but the people working there are also benefited.Due to this it has become much easier now to get a job anywhere in the WORLD.The boundaries have expanded or say no boundaries are there for getting a job.The communication not only has effect on job prospects but working in a cross cultural environment helps the society also to evolve.The less developed societies and groups are coming close to the more evolved ones and they also grow with them.
Phonetics is a very important component of this communication.One must pronounce the words in a correct way.However , some local/regional accent is natural.But, still people having neutral accent are more preferred.So, if you pronounce a word in a more clear and standard way it becomes neutral accent pronunciation and more easily understood by people anywhere on the Globe.

Now ,again one must be very clear about the phonetics is that "no one is perfect".The people who work with it on daily basis or regular basis are the best.So the key towards a great phonetics is only one and it is "practice","Practice" and "Practice".We are normally adapted to listen and speak in a certain accent ,the accent we are listening since our birth.That particular accent has a deep effect.We are comfortable listening certain sounds and naturally produce some typical sounds or phonetics.This is the regional phonetic or the regional accent.To come over it and develop a good phonetic [neutral] is more of coming out of one mental frame and adapting a another.We slowly by practice train ourself to be more comfortable in listening and pronouncing the new phonetics.So, one must not be afraid of the time factor.Some people learn initially very fast and some later.It is only due to what exposure they have previously.By practicing and determination it is possible to learn any knowledge and it is true for the language English also.
Practicing definitely needs practicing in correct direction.For that many helps are available as local institutions providing phonetic classes and definitely your college soft skills faculty.The best way as I told above is practice.This adapts your tongue to learn to twist-and-dance in a very stylish way.The best way is to speak-speak and speak. I know you love your friends very much and just do not want to kill him listening your uncontrolled bombastically spelled words.So, every day take some time off from your studies/work and your friends too.Take a good English news paper.Do regular reading , pronounce the words and it will be better if you go and practice before a mirror also sometimes.
A table of phonetics alphabets with their sounds in mp3 format is listed
here .You can listen to them here.
A very interesting free tool is also there.You can type in the words here and listen to them.One or more sentences at a time.You can use the free text to speech engine
here .[This works better with Netscape Navigator
Download Here ]
One more free tool is there where if you have interest you can translate your text from english to some other languages and listen how they are pronounced in those languages.Reach the translator engine
here .
So, what are you waiting for friends.Start your practice from now.Because each minute counts .
Go ahead .
Learn!!! Enjoy!!! Grow!!!