@prometheanbound This property of Chinese characters also helps understanding Japanese spoken language, since at least some Chinese characters are pronounced similarly to modern spoken Chinese. All those being said, without really learning Japanese, Chinese people could only very roughly and inaccurately understand its written language and are totally unable to grasp its spoken language. So some learning is still necessary, just as you said. Still, at least based on my personal experience, learning Japanese is a lot more easier than learning English, which shares far fewer commonalities with Chinese.