You have to distinguish different types of phoneticity. Can you pronounce what you read vs. spell what you hear? Can you pronounce an unfamiliar character?

You have to distinguish different types of phoneticity. Can you pronounce what you read vs. spell what you hear? Can you pronounce an unfamiliar character? With very few exceptions, Chinese characters are always pronounced the same way in the various Chinese languages (but not in Japanese), regardless of context, but if you're unfamiliar with a character, you'll have at best only a vague idea how to pronounce it. If you hear a Chinese syllable, you'll have several characters to choose from, and can only disambiguate them from context.