text: what are phonetic symbols?   phonetic symbols are a set of universally accepted symbols used by linguists so that we know exactly how words are pronounced without knowing the spelling system of each language.  each phonetic symbol represents only one sound and each sound has only one symbol.  they are written between brackets [  ].  thus the english word "read" is written [rid] and "meet" is written [mit].  anyone in the world who knows the phonetic alphabet would know how to pronounce these two words whether they know english or not.  the person who wrote "phonemic" is incorrect.  there is no "phonemic" alphabet.  phonemes are based on an analysis of the phonetics of a language and are abstract symbols used to represent a class of sounds (allophones) that are related to each other by rule.  phonemic transcription uses phonetic symbols (usually) written between vergules /  /, thus the phonemic representations of english "read" and "meet" are /rid/ and /mit/.