# Games with languages that use different types of writing systems **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302 "2012-06-16T00:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/1 "2012-06-16T00:27:15Z")
Hi, Sorry if this has been asked before, should go in the games forum, or if the question is not clear. I was wondering what, if any, sorts of “games” are played with languages that use non alphabetic writing systems ( or if you want to include stuff from Babylonian wedges or Mayan knot tying systems that’s fine 🙂 ). For instance, the Latin alphabet and similar types of writing systems, easily lend themselves f to such things as word searches, crossword puzzles, anagrams, scrabble, etc. Are there any analogs to those things in cultures / languages, like Chinese, that use entirely different types of writing systems (e.g. pictographs, ideographs, hieroglyphs, etc) as opposed to just different alphabets, like Cyrillic? For instance, I have heard that in Chinese (Mandarin? Cantonese? ) they have contests to see who can look up a word in the dictionary the fastest because it is so difficult. What other sorts of language games do other cultures play? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/2 "2012-06-16T01:38:42Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > Hi, > Sorry if this has been asked before, should go in the games forum, or if the question is not clear. I was wondering what, if any, sorts of “games” are played with languages that use non alphabetic writing systems ( or if you want to include stuff from Babylonian wedges or Mayan knot tying systems that’s fine 🙂 ). > For instance, the Latin alphabet and similar types of writing systems, easily lend themselves f to such things as word searches, crossword puzzles, anagrams, scrabble, etc. Are there any analogs to those things in cultures / languages, like Chinese, that use entirely different types of writing systems (e.g. pictographs, ideographs, hieroglyphs, etc) as opposed to just different alphabets, like Cyrillic? For instance, I have heard that in Chinese (Mandarin? Cantonese? ) they have contests to see who can look up a word in the dictionary the fastest because it is so difficult. What other sorts of language games do other cultures play? I’ve wondered if there are Spelling Bees in other languages. I’d guess that even a gringo with 2 semesters of Spanish is going to be so good at Spanish spelling that there’s little point. ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/3 "2012-06-16T11:05:22Z")
If TBBT is to be believed there’s “Klingon boogle”. And regarding spelling bees, at least in Chile we don’t have them and I’ve never heard of any other Spanish speaking country that do, my guess is its because Spanish is much more transparent than English. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/4 "2012-06-16T11:12:32Z")
Does Japanese count? Hiragana and Katakana are syllabaries, each character is a syllable rather than a phoneme. You can play the same kinds of word games you do with a phonemic alphabet. Eg Shiritori (しりとり) is a Japanese word game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word. No distinction is made between hiragana, katakana and kanji. “Shiritori” literally means “taking the buttocks” or “taking the end”. [Shiritori - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiritori) ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/5 "2012-06-16T12:42:28Z")
The Japanese have [crossword puzzles](http://www.kyushin.co.jp/heartpage/crossword/cw16.html). Note the lack of clues (and that some numbers appear multiple times). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/6 "2012-06-16T12:47:30Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > The Japanese have [crossword puzzles](http://www.kyushin.co.jp/heartpage/crossword/cw16.html). Note the lack of clues (and that some numbers appear multiple times). So, um, how does that work, then? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/7 "2012-06-16T13:07:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > So, um, how does that work, then? You use the squares that are already filled in their place. This works because there really aren’t that many 3+ character long words featuring a given character (for the most part). ETA: apparently there are similar “clueless” crossword puzzles for English. They look way harder, though: [http://www.cluelesscrosswords.com/](http://www.cluelesscrosswords.com/) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/8 "2012-06-16T14:16:11Z")
Spelling bees. Yes, they are mostly (but not entirely) a phenomenon of English speaking countries. Languages where the orthography is sane, err, closely related to the pronunciation don’t present a challenge. A Slate article on this topic: > **[How do spelling contests work in other countries?](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/05/how-do-spelling-contests-work-in-other-countries.html)** > > Close to 300 boys and girls will be stepping up to the mic at this week's Scripps National Spelling Bee. They hail from across the United States, as... French speaking countries have spelling+grammar contests, apparently. Note that French spelling is sometimes touted as being as illogical as English, and the language has recently undergone spelling reform as a result. That article does mention the Chinese dictionary lookup and typing contests: > [@](#): > > Nonalphabetic languages have their own competitions. Chinese kids join dictionary contests, where they look up words as fast as they can. Unlike English, you can’t completely decipher a Chinese character’s pronunciation just by looking at it, and characters can have many components. Thus there are several ways to find words in dictionaries. Students can look for the character’s radical, or semantic, root and search by the number of strokes in the character. If they know what the word sounds like, they can choose instead to look up the pinyin, or Romanized version, of the character. A third way involves a sort of Dewey Decimal System of words: By examining the strokes in the four “corners” of the character, expressing each corner as a number (a square is a six, for example), they can then use the resulting four-digit code to find a word in a special dictionary. Students also enter typing contests, where again the complexity of Chinese characters poses challenges. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-languages-that-use-different-types-of-writing-systems/625302/9 "2012-06-16T15:35:27Z")
> [@](#): > > The Japanese have crossword puzzles. Note the lack of clues (and that some numbers appear multiple times). I assume that the squares with the same number have the same character in them? And it looks like once you’re done with the grid, you fill in those characters in the spaces below to form some quip or quote or the like.