An experiment with phonetic writing

[ololololo]

So, if the purpose was to phonetically write down french words in order for a french person to read, why would someone do that? Why not just learn french spelling, and then write the book? I feel that this breakdown in the metaphor is a consequence of using a language like french, instead of a completely different writing system like chinese.

You are completely right.
This entire metaphor involving French is meant to show that two people can pronounce the same word in the same way, but hear it differently. I think this is all very obvious, because it’s the same as saying “someone who didn’t learn to speak this language well will speak it poorly.”
But still, it was worth clarifying...

I've only just joined the conversation

Oh, I thought you were talking about the whole theory. Anyway, sorry.