The Common Phonetic Spelling is the phonetic spelling system devised in 2012 by the British-based Chinese lexicographer Ian Low in his Chinese to English dictionaries. The purpose of this system was to simplify and clarify understanding of Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations. This was achieved by ironing out inconsistencies in the current spelling systems in both dialects where the same letters are used to represent different sounds. For example, the letter 'e' in Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin spelling is pronounced differently in he2和(IPA ɔ sound) and xie4謝(IPA ɛ sound). Similarly the letter 'e' in Cantonese Yale Romanization is pronounced differently as in je6謝(IPA ɔ sound) and jeung1章(IPA i sound). The Roman letters in Common Phonetic Spelling are transcribed directly from bopomofo so that th