Today is International Literacy Day! Celebrate with Wonderopolis as we explore the many different ways people around the world read.
Have you ever wondered…
- How many different ways can you read?
- Why do we read from left to right?
- What languages are written right to left?
Did you know?
Reading a book is simple, right? You pick up the book, turn to the first page, start at the upper left-hand side and read from left to right, top to bottom. But have you ever stopped to wonder if everyone in the world reads the same way?
English speakers read and write from left to right. Why? Well, there’s not really a good reason except that’s what the ancient Greeks decided was best.
Long, long ago, Greek scholars tested many different methods of reading and writing words on tablets. Based on their experiments, they decided that reading and writing left to right and top to bottom was easiest. So that’s what they did.
When the ancient Romans conquered the Greeks, they applied the same rules to Latin. Since most Western languages, such as English, are based on Greek or Latin, we have followed their lead in reading and writing left to right and top to bottom.
Believe it or not, though, there are millions of people around the world who read in completely different ways. Let’s take a look at some of these unique styles of reading.
Both Arabic and Hebrew are read and written from right to left. Many East Asian languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, can be read and written from right to left, as well as vertically — from top to bottom.
For example, traditional Chinese and Japanese texts were written vertically in columns, going from top to bottom and right to left. Scholars believe this practice developed due to the ease of writing with a brush in the right hand while the left hand continually unrolled a scroll to the left.
Times are changing, though. Today, it’s becoming more and more common for these languages to be written horizontally (side to side) from left to right.
Experts believe this change is the result of the increasing influence of English, as well as the common use of computerized word processing systems that don’t support right-to-left formatting.
One place children may encounter a right-to-left form of writing is in comic books. Japanese comics — called “manga” — often use vertical text. These comics also often have frames and pages that flow right to left.
And just when you think you’ve seen all the ways people read and write, don’t forget the ancient Egyptians! Instead of using words, they often used pictures in their unique script called “hieroglyphics.”
Instead of one standard format, the ancient Egyptians would write hieroglyphics in any direction — right to left, left to right or up and down — that happened to be convenient and pleasing to the eye.
If you happen to see hieroglyphics written horizontally, you can tell which way to read the passage by looking at the people and animals in the glyphs. The people and animals always face toward the beginning of the line!
Try it out!
Ready to give a new way of reading a try? First, take a look at this Israeli website — ramkol — to get a feel for what websites in other countries look like.
Do you see how it’s oriented from right to left? What do you think? Would it be hard to get used to reading right to left?
Before you spend too much time reading and writing right to left, we want you to have some fun with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Ever wondered what your name looks like in hieroglyphics? Find out using the amazing Hierogenerator!
When you have translated your name into hieroglyphics, turn your name into a work of art by creating a cartouche. In ancient Egypt, cartouches — a kind of nameplate — were made for kings and queens.
Download and print a cartouche template. If you want to make it look ancient, you can color it brown and crinkle it up.
If you want to make it look really old, place it in the bottom of a pan, pour coffee or dark tea over it and then bake it in the oven for a few minutes.
When your cartouche is ready, write your name in hieroglyphics on it. You could also make a sign to hang on your bedroom door at home.
Use this hieroglyphics alphabet to compose your message! When you’re finished, email us a picture of your cartouche!
Wonder words to know and use:
- scholar
- vertical
- horizontal
- influence
- formatting
- hieroglyphics
- script
- convenient
- glyph
- oriented
Still wondering?
In EDSITEment’s Traditions and Languages of Three Native Cultures: Tlingit, Lakota, and Cherokee lesson, students learn about the environment, history, language and culture of three Native American groups.
Wonder what’s next?
Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day celebrates a wild cast of characters, from animals to historical figures to Hoosiers… whatever those are!
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Happy International Literacy Day!!!
The video was neat, we couldn’t tell what they were saying, but it was cool to hear and watch them. It was neat to think about reading vertically (top to bottom) like the kids in the video. Some Chinese symbols reminded us of objects we see everyday, for example a window or box.
We didn’t know about Ancient Egyptians writing in any direction they wanted, if we did that our sentences would be a mess! It was cool though to learn the animals and people in their hieroglyphics faced the front of the line. THANKS AGAIN!!
Your comment made us smile, Kerrick Elementary School 2nd/EBD classroom! Especially the part about how messy our sentences would be if we could write any and every direction we wanted to! It would be a lot of fun (and a bit frustrating) to try and figure out what everyone was trying to say! Thank you for visiting Wonderopolis again today…you guys ROCK!
I love to read!!! I did not know Japanese people wrote left to right. I thought they only wrote top to bottom. Great!!!!
Hello, Alayna! We think it is SO GREAT that you love to read! We love to read, too! We’re also glad you learned some new things from today’s Wonder of the Day®. Thanks so much for stopping by Wonderopolis!
We never knew that some people read up and down. We think that looks difficult. We want to try to write in hieroglyphic! – Mrs. Meyer’s Third Grade Class
We’d love to see some of your hieroglyphics, Mrs. Meyer’s class! We think it’s AWESOME that you’re going to try something new you learned about in today’s Wonder of the Day®!
I don’t get the video.
Hi, Ziyanah! The children in the video are learning to speak and write Chinese! Wouldn’t it be cool to learn another language? We think so!
We love wonder!
We are happy to hear that, Mrs. Johnson’s 4b Class! We love wonder, too! Thank you for WONDERing in Wonderopolis today!
I like the updates you guys always give. I’m in after school right now, it is fun. The videos you guys have are awesome. The hieroglyphics are awesome. Bye!
What a great comment, Evan! We like replying to comments that our Wonder Friends leave for us! Have a WONDERful day!
I just love wonder especially on Wonderopolis. You guys are the best because you have so many interesting facts!
We think our Wonder Friends are the BEST, Mrs. Johnson’s 4B Class! Thank you for leaving us such a nice comment today!
I love your website, it is fun and funny!
Thank you for visiting us today, Paiton! We think Wonderopolis is fun, too! We love learning new things each day!
Dear Wonderopolis,
The video was cool. I tried the Hierogenerator and it was awesome. I put all kinds of names in. This website is fun.
Thank you.
Thank YOU for visiting Wonderopolis and for leaving us such a nice comment, Marco! We liked creating our own hieroglyphs, too! We even typed in “Wonderopolis” to see what it would look like!
I love to learn a new language it’s much better. I actually learn a very very easy language. It’s Chinese, because I like it very very much! I would actually like to learn more!:)
We think it’s really great that you love to learn new languages, Winter! Thank you for sharing about your experience today…we liked hearing how you enjoy learning to read and speak Chinese!
I really loved that there is site that takes interest in information that can appeal to all ages, you guys do a great job.
I love that a point was made about the impact the English and western cultures are making in the different countries around the world. It was also nice to see the Japanese culture that has appealed to those of us in the western culture acknowledged.
Hi, Jourdan! Thank you so much for your comment! We appreciate you visiting Wonderopolis, and we’re happy to hear which parts of this Wonder of the Day® you liked best!