The International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA is a system of written characters that have one unique non-blending sound, so that the word that is written with them can only be pronounced one way. It is used by actors and linguists who try to recreate the natural sound of a language.
Because most of the characters used in the IPA are not found on the keyboard, a simplified Latin based pronunciation system is used across the internet. For uncommon words and phrases, many people rely on this system.
Please keep this in mind before you go off on someone for mispronouncing something that you think should be obvious that is actually written in an overly complicated language with no consistency for writing or pronunciation, such as English.
