English oo and oh

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

Well, I guess everybody knows that in most English dictionaries, the "oo" sound is transcribed /u/ and the "oh" sound is transcribed /oʊ/. However, I notice that "oo" is NOTHING like /u/ and "oh" is pretty unlike /oʊ/.

First, the "oo" sound. It sounds much more like ìwww than u. In fact, much of the really distinctive Chinese accent of English speakers comes from the fact that they pronounce IPA /u/ as ìwww.

The "oh" sound (the last sound of "dough") is also unlike /oʊ/. /oʊ/, taken literally, means a glide from the Na'vi o to the sound in book. It is pretty much impossible to diphthongize those two sounds. Plus, the English "oh" doesn't actually start from an /o/ sound. It starts, to my ears, from the sound in button, or /ʌ/, and ends, not at the book sound, but a w sound.

My question is, even square-bracket IPA for specific dialects of American English transcribe the sounds as [u] and [oʊ] instead of [ɪw] and [ʌw]. What is the reasoning behind it?

[Ricardo]

Soon and book aren't [sun] aand [buk]?
I did it wrong the whole time. 

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

Soon and book aren't [sun] and [buk]?
I did it wrong the whole time.  

Soon does not have the pure /u/ sound. Try saying [sɪw:n] instead. Book has the German short U (ʊ) sound, not the English OO (ɪw) sound. Say the German word "Bruch", remove the R sound, and replace the CH sound with a K sound. Note that "Bruch" with the R removed is NOT pronounced the same as "Buch". You probably know lots more German than I do though, so you should hear the difference.

So, to my ears,

soon = /sɪw:n/
book = /bʊk/

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

Well, in the attachment is an audio file of me saying "Oo. Oh. Soon book dough."

['Oma Tirea]

American English "oh" = IPA [ɵ̞ʊ].  This vowel, like other vowels, varies depending on the dialect of English.

Also "oh" and "oo" are much more like [o] and [u]before an L, as in "cool" and "cold".  Again, this depends on the dialect of English.  Scottish English, for instance, always has [o] and [u].