ABSTRACT
Taking a text on the phonic/graphic level means looking at it as a sequence of sound segments (or phonemes), or as a sequence of letters (or graphemes), or as both. Oral texts are normally only looked at in phonic terms. Written texts are always first encountered on the graphic level, but they may need to be looked at in phonic terms as well – in fact, from a translation point of view, they are more often considered phonically than graphically. Although phonemes and graphemes are different things, we shall normally refer to the ‘phonic/graphic level’, whether the text in question is an oral one or a written one.
