IPA and AHD symbols

    In my opinion, IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols are more popular but AHD (American Heritage Dictionary) symbols are easier to learn.

     A list of pronunciation symbols is given below.

VOWELS

Example	AHD	IPA
bad, cat, ran	ă	æ
marry	ăr	ær
bait, play, same	ā	eɪ
hair, pear, there	âr	ɛər
father	ä	ɑː
arm, bard	är	ɑr
bed, bet, end	ĕ	ɛ
berry, merry	ĕr	ɛr
ease, see	ē[1]	iː
about (reduced)	ə	ə
enter (reduced)	ər	ər
city, bit	ĭ	ɪ
mirror	ĭr	ɪr
here, near, peer	îr	ɪər
my, rise, pric’e	ī	aɪ
fire	īr	aɪr
not	ŏ	ɒ
moral, forage	ŏr	ɒr
law, caught, saw	ô	ɔː
born, for	ôr	ɔr
go, hope, know	ō	oʊ
more, four	ōr	ɔər
foot, pull	o͝o (ŏŏ[2])	ʊ
lose, soon, through	o͞o (ōō[2])	uː
boor	o͝or	ʊər
boy, noise	oi	ɔɪ
house, now	ou	aʊ
run, enough, up	ŭ	ʌ
hurry	ŭr	ʌr
fur, bird	ûr	ɜr
Foreign	AHD	IPA
German schön, können; French feu, oeuf	œ	ø
German müde, French tu	ü	y

CONSONANTS

Example	AHD	IPA
but, ebb	b	b
chat, inch	ch	tʃ
dot, odd	d	d
fan, leaf	f	f
get, bag	g	ɡ
ham, ahead	h	h
which	hw	hw
joy, gin, edge	j	dʒ
cat, sky, tack	k	k
left, little	l	l
man, him	m	m
not, hidden	n	n
singer, ring	ng	ŋ
pen, spin, top	p	p
run, very	r	r
set, city, pass	s	s
she, ash	sh	ʃ
ton, stab, mat	t	t
thin, nothing, moth	th	θ
this, father, clothe	th	ð
voice, save	v	v
wet, aquatic	w	w
yes	y	j
zoo, rose	z	z
vision, beige	zh	ʒ
Foreign	AHD	IPA
loch, pesach	kh	x
French: bon	n	˜

SYLLABLES AND STRESS

Indication	AHD	IPA
primary stress (carried on the letter a)	aʹ	ˈa
secondary stress	aʹ	ˌa
division between syllables (not used after a stress mark)	‒	.

Online dictionaries:
AHD: http://www.ahdictionary.com/
IPA: http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/