> Chinese writing is not phonetic There is a similar thing going on with written arabic, where Ḥarakāt diacritics indicate short vowels, long consonants, and s

> Chinese writing is not phonetic There is a similar thing going on with written arabic, where Ḥarakāt diacritics indicate short vowels, long consonants, and some other vocalizations, but these are generally left out of writing except in the Qur'an. So you have a classic phonetic key with which to recite the Qur'an, but almost all written text besides that can be read by wildly different speakers. I'm amazed at how two (Mainland) Chinese people can always communicate. The level of shared cultural foundation is beyond what we have in Europe, I believe. The Chinese language is an absolute joy to learn.