Some languages' writing systems do not provide enough information about the pronunciation of words or have a significant number of words/word forms where it is not provided. To provide the information about the pronunciation to children or adult learners, these languages use additional scripts or a modified script, written next/above/below/before/after the main text.
Phonetic guides are used when the intended audience may not have mastered reading without them - language education texts for children, foreigners or dialect speakers; when the correct pronunciation is considered very important - religious texts, some poetry, dictionaries for disambiguation purposes. It can be used when certain words are known to be difficult - geographical or personal names or when the pronunciation is counter-intuitive.
Some major languages with difficult writing systems and the most common phonetic guides used (theInternational Phonetic Alphabet may of course be used for any language):
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