The theoretical foundations are presented in a linguistically simple form. Diagrams support visual memory. Insight into the relationship between spelling and pronunciation, and thus an understanding of language structure, is provided in tabular form. There is an extensive discussion of native speaker-related automatism. Sources of errors for about 10 nationalities are highlighted, along with solutions to the problems. Notable colloquial and dialectal deviations are indicated. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used extensively, allowing for objective sound identification and self-monitoring. At the end of each chapter, a wealth of practice material (listening and speaking exercises) is available: a) Distinguishing sounds without context b) Distinguishing sounds with context c) Matching sounds to written forms d) Pronouncing sounds without context.