China has always had within its borders people speaking many different languages, and a crucial element of Chinese civilization has been that the educated of all groups can write to each other. This is because Chinese characters are non-phonetic. They do not attempt, unlike languages using an alphabet, to set down the sound of a word. Instead they convey the meaning by a symbol. All literate Chinese will understand the meaning of a written character, though it may be incomprehensible when read out as a word.
Westerners share the same advantage at a very limited level. Tourists, shown a familiar symbol, will variously read it as 'défense de fumer', 'se prohibe fumar', 'rauchen verboten' or 'no smoking'.
China has always had within its borders people speaking many different languages, and a crucial element of Chinese civilization has been that the educated of all groups can write to each other. This is because Chinese characters are non-phonetic. They do not attempt, unlike languages using an alphabet, to set down the sound of a word. Instead they convey the meaning by a symbol. All literate Chinese will understand the meaning of a written character, though it may be incomprehensible when read out as a word.
Westerners share the same advantage at a very limited level. Tourists, shown a familiar symbol, will variously read it as 'défense de fumer', 'se prohibe fumar', 'rauchen verboten' or 'no smoking'.
The non-phonetic Chinese script: from 1600 BC
China has always had within its borders people speaking many different languages, and a crucial element of Chinese civilization has been that the educated of all groups can write to each other. This is because Chinese characters are non-phonetic. They do not attempt, unlike languages using an alphabet, to set down the sound of a word. Instead they convey the meaning by a symbol. All literate Chinese will understand the meaning of a written character, though it may be incomprehensible when read out as a word.
Westerners share the same advantage at a very limited level. Tourists, shown a familiar symbol, will variously read it as 'défense de fumer', 'se prohibe fumar', 'rauchen verboten' or 'no smoking'.