Why so many homonyms in Chinese language?

[kaka2009]

In English, there are a few homonyms that can be confusing to hear. Some examples are:

red, read
here, hear
there, their
write, right
blew, blue

and so on.

Often, a person can speak only 1 word in English, and it will be understood. You don't need very much context.

The hardest part of studying Chinese, for me, is how many words sound alike, even considering the different tones that distinguish them. For example, "shi4" can mean so many different things. "jia1" as well. There are so many words like that!

Do Chinese usually speak in longer sentences in order to understand context?

Reading and writing Chinese seems easier than speaking it to me.






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[walkfree]

Yes. As you said, there are many single word sounds like the same pronouncement. But if 2 words connect together, the same pronouncement possibility is less. If 3 or more , much less. That is called "context", I think.
In common dialog, Chinese people uses short sentences usually less than 10 words. Actually, short sentences is the tradition. Long sentences look like a production of translation.