Enlgish — like all western languages — uses a phonetic alphabet, while Chinese uses symbolic ideographs — where each symbol represents a concept, not (typically) a sound — so it should come as no surprise that English-reading dyslexics and Chinese-reading dyslexics demonstrate “glitches” in different parts of the brain. From Dyslexia Not the Same in Every Culture:
Earlier brain scans show that English-reading dyslexics misfire in the left temporal-parietal region of the brain associated with awareness of phonemes, 44 sounds from the English alphabet. It is located in the middle and upper portions of the brain’s left lobe.Similar results were found with French and Italian dyslexics.
‘We assumed that all dyslexics probably were the same,’ Eden said. ‘But reading Chinese requires a different set of skills.’
And, according to the new study, it uses some different parts of the brain called the left middle frontal gyrus, or LMFG.
Brain scans show the LMFG fires in normal Chinese readers, but Chinese dyslexics show glitches in that circuitry, according to Li-Hai Tan of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda and the University of Hong Kong.
The LMFG is located toward the left-front of the brain. It is associated with symbol interpretation. Unlike alphabet letters, Chinese characters represent entire thoughts and physical objects.
This I found surprising:
It does not mean Chinese dyslexics might be able to use different portions of their brain and learn to read English signs and instructions more easily. Once a person learns to read they tend to use the same circuitry regardless of the second language and its alphabet, Eden said.