Just that. Written English is phonetic, so I can easily read an unfamiliar word by sounding it out. Even though I don’t always get it right, usually I’m close enough to be understood.
How does this work in Chinese, or Japanese?
Edit – OK, yes I get it! English isn’t really phonetic. It’s just that when I was learning to read and write, our school used a method they called phonics. It must have confused the heck out of most kids, because they abandoned the method soon after, but it worked for me. We had a lot of practice in recognizing the various patterns words can take, and the many exceptions. So for me, who always did very well in English class, words tend to be easy to spell out.
I’m really glad not to have to figure it out as an adult, because I’m sure I’d be just as frustrated as some of you friends are! And I promise you that you are much better at English than I am at your language.
In: Other
For Chinese, you can’t.
You can guess, but if you don’t know the character, you probably won’t know how to say it or understand it.
Keep in mind that Chinese is tonal (i.e. the inflection). Different tones for the same sound can have different meanings. So not only do you need to know what sound the character is, but also the tone. Looking at a character may give clues, but there is no way to know exactly.
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