A really interesting case is Urdu. In Nastaliq script, the Urdu language word-wise goes right-to-left... diagonally. Here's a picture: http://i.imgur.com/nIHmZJ

A really interesting case is Urdu. In Nastaliq script, the Urdu language word-wise goes right-to-left... diagonally. Here's a picture: http://i.imgur.com/nIHmZJc.png http://i.imgur.com/nIHmZJc.png See how every next letter is just a little bit lower than the one preceding it? That's Nastaliq script, it goes left-down-ward. As you could imagine, it's a special hell supporting this language. What's happened now is... a compromise has basically been made. Nastaliq is how Urdu had predominantly been written for years and years... but with growing usage of computers, even native Urdu speakers are abandoning it, because there's such poor support for it. This article talks a little more about this: https://medium.com/stories-that-matter/9ce935435d90 https://medium.com/stories-that-matter/9ce935435d90