English spelling does not reliably show the sounds, so dictionaries print a pronunciation in IPA, an international alphabet of fixed sound symbols across languages.
Schedule: a respelling like SHED-yool or SKED-jool beside the IPA line, so you can start from the simple version and map it to symbols.
A key at the front explains each symbol. Stress marks show which syllable to punch hardest.
Varieties differ too: British keeps the written r only before a vowel, so transcriptions vary and labels like British or American tell you which convention is used.
A dictionary entry as a tiny scene
Open a dictionary at newspaper and you might see a line like /ˈnuzˌpeɪpər/. Those slashes hold IPA symbols, one fixed sound per symbol, so a reader can say the word correctly even though spelling alone would not guarantee it.
Notice the small mark before nu. A raised vertical line signals primary stress, the syllable you punch hardest: NEW-spaper. In longer words like information, a second, lower mark shows a weaker stressed syllable. Publishers differ slightly, so check the key at the front rather than assuming every dictionary writes sounds the same way.
The same line also changes with variety. British and American transcriptions often differ because British English keeps the written r sound only before a vowel, so a word like party loses its final r sound in a British key. That is why dictionaries label entries British or American instead of printing one universal line.