NATO phonetic alphabet by those who exchange voice messages by radio or telephone, regardless of language differences or the quality of the communication channel. The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: , Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, , Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Strict adherence to the prescribed spelling words is required in order to avoid the problems of confusion that the spelling alphabet is designed to overcome. As noted in a
NATO phonetic alphabet French speakers, because they may otherwise treat a single final "t" as silent. In some English versions of the alphabet, one or both of these may have their standard English spelling. Defined by various international conventions on radio, including: For the 1938 and 1947 phonetics, each transmission of figures is preceded and followed by the words "as a number" spoken twice. The ITU adopted the International Maritime Organization's phonetic spelling alphabet in 1959, and in 1969 specified that it be "for application in the maritime mobile service only". Pronunciation was not defined prior to 1959. For the 1959–Present phonetics, the