- Identifying Asian Scripts

A far from perfect little table, but one that hopefully gets the point across and works as a reference. Scripts ≠ languages, with many scripts being used by many languages.

Script Indicators Example
Chinese Dense, complex, and boxy. 这里的门在哪？
Japanese Mixes dense Chinese-style characters with simpler curved kana symbols. 明日も仕事です。
Korean Highly geometric; lots of circles and straight lines. 어디로 가야 하죠?
Thai Tall, narrow letters with tiny loops/circles at the start of strokes. ตรงนี้มีอะไรขาย?
Khmer Similar to Thai but busier with wavy, ornate tops and more horizontal connection. ខ្ញុំមិនយល់ទេ។
Burmese Extremely round; looks like a collection of interlocking circles. Very few straight lines. ဘယ်လောက်ကြာမလဲ?
Devanagari (Hindi) Distinct horizontal bar connecting letters at the top. बस कब आएगी?
Bengali Has a top bar like Hindi, although segmented. Letters are more triangular/pointy. আমি এখনই আসছি।
Tamil No top bar. Curvy with blocky loops and square shapes. எனக்கு புரியவில்லை.
Sinhala Very curvy and ornate with spiral-like curves. මට ඒක දෙන්න.
Tibetan Top-heavy characters with a horizontal line and long, sharp vertical descenders. ག་རེ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད།
Vietnamese Latin alphabet with lots of diacritics (often multiple on the same character). Cửa hàng đóng cửa rồi.
Arabic Flowing connected cursive written right-to-left; many dots above/below letters. هل هذا صحيح؟
Cyrillic Similar to Latin alphabet but with distinctive letters including Ж, Д, Ы, Ф. Как это работает?
Lao Similar to Thai but rounder and less vertically tall. ເຮັດຫຍັງຢູ່?
Gurmukhi Straight top line like Devanagari but with more open rounded forms. ਮੈਨੂੰ ਪਤਾ ਨਹੀਂ।
Telugu Very round with many hanging curves and circular shapes. నాకు అర్థం కాలేదు.
Kannada Rounded like Telugu but more compact and angular. ಇದು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆ?
Hebrew Blocky right-to-left script with compact letters and few curves. מה השעה עכשיו?