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PRONUNCIATION

The same character is pronounced completely differently across Sinitic languages.

Here's how to think about it. Take this word: "chat"
• in English: [ʦæt]
• in French: [ʃa]

Of course "chat" means different things in English and French. But even when the meaning of a character is the same across different Sinitic languages, it still sounds different:

熱
• in Mandarin: [ɻɤ˥˨]
• in Cantonese: [jiːt̚˨]
• in Taiwanese: [ʣuaʔ˦]
• in Hakka: [ŋiet̚˥] (12/13)