How is chinese writing different from the western alphabet?

Answer 1

There are 26 Western Alphabets, but a few thousand Chinese Characters. Basically you can read just about any word in English if you know a few basic rules of pronunciation - albeit with some mistakes. But there is almost no sure-fire way to guess the pronunciation of a Chinese character if you see it for the first time.

Chinese writing is rather complex in the sense that you have to learn to write each character before you really know how to write it. As in, if I am reading a passage in English/French to you and you have a basic grasp of English/French, you can actually write down what I have said, though with some mistakes. Even if you have a basic grasp of Chinese, however, you might not know how to write something I have spoken because you simply have not encountered that word. It is also not uncommon to "forget" the way of writing a certain word.

Answer 2

Chinese writing is logographic, with characters representing words or concepts, while the Western alphabet is phonetic, with letters representing sounds. Chinese characters are more visually complex and can convey meaning even without being pronounced, whereas Western alphabets focus on specific sounds that are combined to form words. Additionally, Chinese characters are usually written vertically from top to bottom or horizontally from right to left, while Western alphabets are written horizontally from left to right.