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This is a technical question discussed much by the experts but still unresolved.
Before coming to the answer I would like to explain the word "Phonetic". It is taken from the Greek word "Phone" which means sound. So phonetic is the term which defines the relation of an alphabet to its sound.
I, as a student of English language, have the opinion that English language is not phonetic in true sense. English language has 26 letters in total where as standard British English has about 44 speech sounds.
It might be phonetic for a native English speaker but when it comes to speak English as a second language, it is too hard to believe it. If you speak and then write it is much easy but if you try to read without achieving the ability to speak, it almost becomes impossible due to wide variations of sounds in respect to the spellings.
Let me explain the point with some common examples.
Example of same spellings having different sound:
* I like to read (rid).
* I have read (red) that book.
Example of different spellings having same sound:
* I have read (red) that book.
* My favourite colour is red (red).
Another very popular example can elaborate the point well. "Ough" can produce seven different sounds by the same spellings. It'll be interesting for many to know these:
* Though ( like O in go)
* Through (like OO in too)
* Cough (like Off in offer)
* Rough (like Uff in suffer)
* Plough (like Ow in flower)
* Ought (like Aw in saw)
* Borough (like A in above)
Almost all the languages have the same problem but some have more; English is one of them.
No it isn't, however the Americans try very hard to make it so, this is shown by their pronunciation and spelling of many English words:
Lieutenant (Lef - tenant in English) (Loo - tenant in American)
Tomato (Tom - R -toe in English) (Tom - ate - oh in American)
I have used the terms English and American purely to differentiate between the two ways of "speaking" not to suggest there is a difference between the languages!!!!
The question is not asked correctly, so the sentence makes no sense, and thus I cannot answer it
Could you give a little more explanation to the question?
