How the world writes words down

Languages · Texts, Media & Translation · ages 8-10

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Which way does Arabic run?
- Right to left
- Top to bottom only
- Left to right
An alphabet writes what?
- Whole stories
- Sounds
- Numbers only
In Arabic, short vowels are often what?
- Doubled
- Sung aloud
- Left unwritten
You start Japanese. Which script comes first?
- Hiragana
- The IPA chart
- Fingerspelling
A Chinese character stands for one sound, just like an English letter.
Circle one: True False
What is the IPA?
- A sign dance
- One mark for each speech sound
- A font for titles
A learner should study sound spelling first even when the script writes whole words.
Circle one: True False
Kim tries to spell Chinese words letter by letter. Why is she stuck?
- She writes too neatly
- She reads too slowly
- Chinese writes words with characters, not letter sounds

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Right to left · Arabic runs the opposite way from English.
Sounds · An alphabet spells out sounds, mark by mark.
Left unwritten · Readers fill the short vowels in from sense.
Hiragana · Hiragana first makes the other two far easier.
False · A character stands for a word or part of a word.
One mark for each speech sound · With it you can read any word's pronunciation.
False · Match your first steps to the kind you face.
Chinese writes words with characters, not letter sounds · Letter spelling cannot crack a character script.