It's actually not very different. Hebrew works in the same way, except it's not cursive. They share a common ancestor in Phoenician script I think, also used fo

It's actually not very different. Hebrew works in the same way, except it's not cursive. They share a common ancestor in Phoenician script I think, also used for a Semitic language, for which it works well. The Greek alphabet (and thence ours) was derived the Phoenician script that worked in a similar fashion, by adding vowels.