If written words were pictures, like emoji, one for each spoken word, children would need to learn 50,000 different pictures.  😳😮😕

Instead, alphabetic writing tells you the sounds that each word is made of. There are just 44 different sounds in English. However, if you can’t decode the symbols in a sentence, you can’t read it - even if you know the language in which it’s written!

Try decoding this sentence using the code beneath (by the way, it is written right to left).

If you can’t decode, you can’t read. But decoding isn’t enough on its own. For more insights into decoding text, language comprehension and more, download Learning to Read: A Primer/Part One.