For Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese, writing was done in 漢字 (English spelling may vary), going down and stopping and switching to the next line on the left and repeating the process again. Now, all of them write in the same orientation as English - going horizontally to the right and stopping and switching to the next line below the previous line and repeating the process again.
However, there are exceptions. Chinese-language novels published in Taiwan or in Hong Kong may be printed in the traditional orientation. In Mainland China, books may also be printed in the traditional orientation.
Then, there are Arabic and Hebrew.
My conjecture is that Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are all arranged in syllabic blocks. So, it would be relatively easy to change orientation. However, the same cannot be said for Arabic and Hebrew. Those are abjads, and the letters must be arranged in a specific order. And there is the Mongolian script, which is a vertical alphabet, again a specific order.
It would be as if English letters were arranged vertically like this:
H
I
!
M
y
n
a
m
e
I
s
So difficult to read!
My question above can be expressed alternatively. Is it possible to write Arabic or Hebrew or Mongolian in the same orientation as English? Is the inability to change writing orientation purely linguistic, or are there social/historical/cultural factors involved?
neurological basis
- well, there is no way to prove my point but I'm sure that for a child learning to read there is no difference how .. – tum_ May 24 '19 at 8:09neurological basis
can only be understood as "people who already can read will find it rather challenging to read backwards or downwards", which is quite obvious, but there is nothing 'genetic' here, it's just a question of learning. – tum_ May 24 '19 at 8:12