Eli5: why do languages have spelling and pronunciation in common? Counting is the easiest example. Most words that are in a foreign language can be almost guessed in English which is very weird to me.
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Many languages have common ancestors so they have many words with the same root. This exists in a continuum with languages like Portuguese and Spanish which are mutually intelligible in one end and English and Mandarin on the other where not a single word is remotely close (your premise is just false).
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