Interpreting Japanese sentences from right to left or left to right


Are Japanese sentences (horizontal) to be read/interpreted from left to right
or right to left? For e.g: the word "Inshoku" when read from left to right,
means Drink and food, but the translation read "Food and Drink".




  1. The translation will not always follow the thought-order of the original word
  2. 飲食{いんしょく} is not two words in Japanese, it is one word（熟語{じゅくご}）
  3. As a phrase in English, "Food and Drink" is more commonly used than "Drink and Food"
  4. Horizontal Japanese can be read either from left-to-right (as in English) or right-to-left, depending on context
  5. When horizontal Japanese is read right-to-left it is actually being written as top-to-bottom, right-to-left (each top-to-bottom line has just a single character at the top) - This functions like a bold title and is most often seen in scrolls or in temple decorations

You can type 扁額 into Google to see many examples of this type of decoration.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VHugcm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VHugcm.png)

