Long after I learned to read. At which point it was just confusing since so many words can’t be ‘sounded out’.

I learned to read alongside learning to speak, learned it like a language, not like a code, I didn’t really sound things out consciously, it went in the other direction, I recognized words. So by 3 years I could read quite well, and did come by that path to an understanding that the individual letters had sounds.

Like if you’ve ever seen a little kid learning to write, they start with just scribbles then lines of scribbles then clumps of “letters” then actual words with letters. That is sort of the process I had - books held stories, then I saw there was writing, then my mom read the stories while pointing to the words, then I pretended I could read by memorizing the book, but then just jumped to being able to read. Anything. Like first book was “bears on wheels” but second book was Grendel, and I could read the newspaper, literally think I could understand written language more than spoken.

So anyway - yes was taught phonics but not taught to read with phonics.

noʊ, aɪ doʊnt θɪŋk aɪ dɪd.

Yes, my elementary school explicitly used it.

Since I come from a culture where our alphabet is actually consistent to how you pronounce things with no exceptions:

no.

No, but I remember seeing the TV ads for Hooked on Phonics