What is the difference between phonics and phonetics

In phonics, you learn to recognize the sound based on letter patterns, and this term is closely associated with rhyming. In phonetics, you are learning the attributes of sounds.

The following are likely word combinations that you see in phonics books:
comb climb thumb tomb
- they illustrate to you that when you see the "mb" combination at the end of words, you only produce the "m" sound. The "b" is silent.
care fare stare | car far star
Cate fate mate | cat fat mat
- the first set of words all have -are or -ate endings (-a-consonant-e) where as the second set of words are just -ar/-at (-a-consonant). You will learn the the final e is also silent, and it is used to modify the sound of the letter a. The first sets have an /æ/ sound while the second sets have a /a/ sound.

Phonics allows you to recognize what can possibly the sound of a word.

It is better to learn phonics first because you will gain a better understanding on the representation of sound in English. This allows you to more easily guess the pronunciation of words -- you know the pattern, and so you only need to remember the exceptions.

Once you have mastered phonics, learning phonetics is good because you can look up dictionaries to confirm that you are indeed pronouncing your words correctly.

說實話, 我對 phonics 呢樣野唔係好認識.
但係 phonetics 就讀過.

Phonetics, 即語音學, 簡單 d 黎講係學有發音o既野. 但係無話學特定某一種 language, 學完之後係可以 apply 落去所有 languages 的.

其實 phoentics 個範圍好廣, 當然我地會學到 IPA (Internation Phonetic Association, 即你o係字典度見到o個 d 發音 symbols). 我地可以用 IPA 拼曬呢個世界所有語言o既音出黎, 而且佢o既拼音係非常之準確o既. 所以如果你學o左 IPA, 咁到你查字典o個陣, 你就可以知道個字o既正確讀音。(你都應該知道, 即使係發聲電子詞典, 佢o既發音都唔係非常準的)

除o左 IPA, phonetics 亦會學我地係點樣發音o既. 例如我地o係發音時會用到 d 咩發音器官 (e.g. 脷、嘴唇、喉嚨...); 亦會用 d 唔同o既方法/programs 去分析 speech sound (e.g. 用 waveform & spectrograms). 又會學有關 vowels and consonants o既野.


其實 phonetics 包含o既範圍非常之廣. 所以作為一個中二生, 我諗你都無乜多餘時間去研究.....所以如果你想發音發得準確 d 的話, 我會建議你學 IPA. 再好 d o既話, 亦可以學埋 place and mannar of articulation~

Although some dictionaries may tell you that both are the same thing,
the practical usage are actually quite different.

1. Phonics 聲音基礎教學法

It emphasises the relationship between the spelling and sound of a word.
It enables you to work out the sounds of unfamiliar words
without checking the dictionary,
and improves your proficiency and fluency in reading and spelling.

It is learned by familiarizing with 1 syllable words,
then using the knowledge to work out the sounds of more complicated words.

e.g. We know the sound of 'set', 'tle', 'ment',
so by combining the sounds,
we know roughly how 'settlement' sounds like.

This skill is also very useful in spelling words you do not know.
Just by the sound of the word,
you can tell roughly what 'letter components' it is made up of.

** www.hkedcity.net/english/phonics/ **

2. Phonetics 語音學

It is a system telling you how a word should sound like by using a list of symbols.

There are many types of symbols (only 3 are listed below):
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)---very accurate, but complicated
K.K. Phonetics ----widely used in Taiwan
D.J. Phonetics-----widely used in UK and HK
(D.J. is used in most dictionaries which are published in UK e.g. Oxford)

It tells you the accurate sounds of the words,
recommended if you want to improve the sound of your speaking.
Not as helpful as phonics in teaching you how to spell words.

Both have their own credits,
Phonics helps you to read fluently,
Phonetics helps you to read correctly

2006-12-05 11:17:39 補充：
Both phonics and phonetics are nouns.Phonic and phonetic are adjective.

Phonics - the studies of phonetic system.

Phonics (n.)
e.g. It is hard to find a teacher whom can teach phonics properly.

Phonetic (adj)
The phonetic structure of French is very different than Cantonese.