Multilingual Children's Speech
Languages differ from one another in many ways. This website focuses on how aspects of speech (e.g., consonants, vowels, syllables, tones) differ between languages.
The following table includes summary resources to enable speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to compare languages.
It is useful to have a copy of the International Phonetic Alphabet to assist with interpreting the information provided in the table below.
More extensive descriptions of languages and speech acquisition data are available in Phonological Development and Disorders in Children: A Multilingual Perspective (Zhu Hua & Dodd, 2006), the International Guide to Speech Acquisition (McLeod, 2007), and on a companion page on this website:
Information about speech assessments in languages other than English is found on companion pages on this website
| Language | IPA* | Info. for SLPs | Speech tests | Intelligibility in Context Scale** | Description *** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans (Afrikaans) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Arabic (ﺍﻠﻌﺮﺒﯿﱠﺔ) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
Assyrian | - | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Bulgarian (Български) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Cantonese (Yue) (粵語 (廣東話)) | IPA | Yes | (see Chinese - Traditional) | Ethnologue | |
| Chinese (Simplified) (简体中文) (China, Singapore) | - | - | No | - | |
| Chinese (Traditional) (繁體中文) (Hong Kong, Taiwan) | - | - | No | - | |
| Croatian (hrvatski) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Danish (dansk) | IPA | - | Yes | - | Ethnologue |
| Dari (دری) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Dutch (Nederlands) | IPA | Yes | - | Ethnologue | |
| English | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Farsi (فارسی) | IPA | - | No | - | |
| Fijian (Vakaviti) | IPA | - | No | - | |
| Filipino (Pilipino) | IPA | No | Ethnologue | ||
| Finnish (suomi) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| French (Français) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| German (Deutsch) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Greek (Πρότυπο Νέας Ελληνικής) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
Gujarati | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Hungarian (Magyar) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Hebrew (עברית) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Hindi (हिन्दी) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue (Fijian Hindi) | |
| Icelandic (Íslenska) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Italian (Italiano) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Japanese (日本語) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
Khmer | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Korean (한국어) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Malay (Bahasa Malayu) | IPA | No | Ethnologue | ||
| Maltese (Malti) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Mandarin (Putonghua) | IPA | Yes | (see Chinese - Simplified) | Ethnologue | |
| Norwegian (Norsk) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Polish (Polski) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Portuguese (Português) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Punjabi/ Panjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue-PAN Ethnologue-PMU Ethnologue-PNB | |
| Romanian (româna) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Russian (русский) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Samoan | - | Yes | - | Ethnologue | |
| Serbian (Српски) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Sesotho | IPA | No | - | Ethnologue | |
| Slovak (Slovak) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Slovenian (slovenšcina) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Somali (Soomaali) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Spanish (Español) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Swedish (Svenska) | IPA | - | Yes | Ethnologue | |
| Tagalog (Tagalog/ Filipino) | IPA | - | No | Ethnologue | |
| Tamil | IPA | - | Yes | - | Ethnologue |
| Telugu | - | - | Yes | - | Ethnologue |
| Thai ( ภาษาไทย ) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Turkish (Türkçe) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Venda (Tshivenda) | - | - | No | - | Ethnologue |
| Vietnamese (Việt) | IPA | Yes | Ethnologue | ||
| Welsh (Cymraeg) | IPA | No | Ethnologue | ||
| Xhosa (isiXhosa) | - | - | No | - | Ethnologue |
| Zapotec | - | No | - | Ethnologue | |
| Zulu (isiZulu) | IPA | - | No | - | Ethnologue |
Zhu Hua & Dodd, B. (2006). Phonological development and disorders in children: A multilingual perspective. Cleavdon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
*** Lewis, M. P. (Ed.). (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of the world. Dallas, TX: SIL International. Retrieved from http://www.ethnologue.com/
McLeod, S. (Ed). (2007). The international guide to speech acquisition. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
** McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & McCormack, J. (2012). Intelligibility in Context Scale. Bathurst, Australia: Charles Sturt University. Retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/ics
* Weinberger, S. H. (2012). Speech accent archive. George Mason University. Retrieved from http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_native.php
McLeod, S., & Blake, H. L. (2024). Multilingual speech: Languages. Charles Sturt University. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages