Why isn't the word "Phonetic" spelled the way it sounds?
459455
Yeah, I see this one a lot.\n\nSeriously, though, the spelling of this word reflects its Latin root "phon" which means "sound".
81392
I have a friend that never learned his phonetix, he's really terrible at english and actually got disability benefits.\n\n\nIt's very problematic. It will take limited time to teach kids perfect phonetics, it's just a matter of patience and memorization.
872944
Are you sure it isn't?\n\nNote that "ph" pronounced as /f/ is actually is a long-recognized representation  of the f-sound. Specifically, it is a "digraph" -- or set of two letters used to represent one sound.  Other standard digraphs in English are "ch", "sh" and "th".   \nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digraph_(orthography)\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H#Value\n\nOf course, in all those cases, the alphabet lacks a consonant to represent the sound (esp. since the loss of the letters called "thorn"  and "eth"-- used for the "th" sounds [with the voice -"the"; without the voice "math"]).  So why the "ph" when we have "f"?   \n\nEnglish borrowed it for Greek words borrowed THROUGH Latin.  It was in Latin that certain conventions for representing the Greek sounds was developed.  One of these was "ph" for the Greek letter "phi".  (Originally, in the Latin borrowing the sound of "ph" was different from Latin "f", which explains why this new convention developed.)    By keeping the "historical orthography [=spelling]" in these cases it is still possible to recognize words of Greek origin, and sometimes to tell something more about how the word is pronounced.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_of_Greek_origin#The_written_form_of_Greek_words_in_English\n\n\nBut WHY did Latin use "pH" for this sound?     They got it from the GREEKS !!\n\nSee the end of this article:\n\n"H"\n"The use (of H) in digraphs (e.g. -sh-, -th-) goes back to the ancient Gk. alphabet, which used it in -ph-, -th-, -kh- until -H- took on the value of a long "e" and the digraphs acquired their own characters. The letter passed into Roman use before this evolution, and thus retained there more of its original Sem. value."\nhttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=h\n\n------------------------\n\nAs for the use of C (instead of K) --  the 'hard' pronunciation of "c" for words of Latin origin is common and ancient
306044
English is a tricky language. Many words have silent letters so its important to listen to the pronunciation so that you say the word right.
1042830
In older "native English" (Anglo-Saxon) words "ch" has the "hard" pronunciation you see in "check" or "chief".   In words borrowed from the French it often has the "sh"-sound  -- as in "charlatan" and "CHEF".      If it helps you, picture a FRENCH chef.
1174709
Well, you don't wanna sound like daffy duck by saying "filippines" which can sound like filiffines or pilipino...w/ too many hard p sounds. I think it's spelled that way for ease in pronounciation.
176048
Yes, people who type phonetically when they obviously can't even pronounce words correctly are lazy, ignorant, or desparately trying to be cool. I don't bother answering those questions, and if they are really bad, I report them as abuse -- Not English/Not comprehensible.
395203
It's nazalized, which gives English speakers the impression that you are saying an "n" afterward (because we only use nazalized vowels before sounds like "n").  It's difficult to describe in words, but it involves lowering the soft palate while you are saying the sound.  I recommend that you search on "Portuguese phonetics" in Google and see if you can find some diagrams.
1080939
Yep...\nHave a go at 'red leather, yellow leather' or 'she poured a proper cup of coffee from a copper coffee pot'...\n\n'Toy boat' is pretty tricky too.\n\nIt seems to have something to to with the way our mouths and brains expect words to be pronounced. We know the patterns of our language, and we aren't used  to saying the same combination of similar sounds over and over again, so when we attempt it, our brains and tongues get confused and try to anticpate or cause a change, making it difficult to complete the challenges.
890533
make yr ques clear.you want it written in it or its phonetic equilivent or something other
176849
Umm, there is spelling? Most english is easy to sound out. www.freetranslation.com Hope that helps man. Good luck
66857
like how the word weird doesn't follow the i before e rule or how the word phonetically isn't spelt using phonics?
60368
Jewelry - not Joolery\nAsterisk - not a$$-trick (and oddly enough, I had to use dollar signs to avoid asterisks!)\nCavalry - not Calvery (unless you're talking about the mountain) \n\nI have an aunt who cannot say "breakfast" - she says "breftuss". It drives me absolutely bonkers.\n\nJust a note regarding the pronunciation of the word "the" - both pronunciations are correct. Generally, the schwa sound  "thuh" is used before words beginning with consonants (the building), and the long E "thee" is used before words beginning with vowels (the outdoors). "Thee" is also used to emphasize the importance of the following word. See the Wikipedia article below.\n\nI'll also add one more word - Been. I admit, I have a tendency to get sloppy and say "bin" or "ben" although the correct pronunciation is "bee-n". (long E like seen).\n(Update - my "bin" pronunciation is acceptable! Check out the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary with the audio pronunciation. Whew - I'm not an illiterate idiot after all.)\n\nOkay, back with a couple more.\n\nMoot (moo like a cow, not mew like a kitten)\nSpecific (not pacific)\nProbably (this has 3 syllables, not 2 - it is pro bab ly not prob ly)
460380
I have never thought about it, but now that you mention it, yes you are right, the S is silent, but the name would look silly and incorrect if it wasn't there....\n\nYou know what else? I think spelling like this with the pronunciation that we have all grown up with, we can blame the French! LOL! I'm only half joking, but there's a grain of truth when it comes to some place names because they (as a nation) were there, and other European languages do the same.\n\nIt's even worse sometimes with peoples first names and surnames.
761251
Actually, one can pronounce it either way...and a couple other ways in addition. It's nothing more than a phonological difference in dialect.
98202
What you are looking for is called the "Phonetic Alphabet".\n\nSee below for a few examples.
218934
Nobody did it on purpose.  It's just that there are a limited number of sounds in English, and a limited number of ways those sounds can be combined into syllables.  In general, though, nobody gets confused about which one you're trying to use.