Pronunciation can look really weird without something to decode it. I get all my translations from http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4/pronkey.html . You can look this up, too. It is a simple manner of copying and pasting.
However, I want to give you a cheat sheet here, so you don't have to go wading. This list is in order of the letter alphabetically, NOT the vowel sound letter. Thank you for putting up with this kind of pronunciation.
- ā hat
- ā hay
- ä water
- ě let
- ē Lee
- ĭ sit
- ī site
- ŏ rot
- ō row
- oi boys
- ŏŏ shook
- ōō boot
- ou shout
- ŭ nut
- ə about
No. I can't really find a difference between "ŭ" and "ə". What I recommend doing (as I do) is to use the u version when the sound contains the u in it, and in all other cases, use the "ə" symbol. I hope this helps!
Alex de la Bruere, Elder -6^2