Reading information rates are pretty similar across major written languages. (1.42 ± 0.13 texts/min). Ideographs take longer to recognize but contain more information.
Japanese readers do indeed take in information slightly more slowly than average, but not as slowly as Finnish readers -- a language with 26 latin-based characters.
> Ideographs take longer to recognize but contain more information.
I think this is a huge part of what makes it hard for people. You have to read denser code slower. APL code can easily have 1/10th of the characters when compared to code in popular languages. If you read at the same speed then you're reading... ten times as fast. That's a bit much to ask. You could read a five times slower and you're still covering information at twice the speed.
Wonder if is there a sweet spot, sort of the language equivalent to what ternary is to number systems, the integer base with best theoretical radix economy (number length vs. Maximum different states coded)
Japanese readers do indeed take in information slightly more slowly than average, but not as slowly as Finnish readers -- a language with 26 latin-based characters.
[1] https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2166061 (summary) https://irisreading.com/average-reading-speed-in-various-lan...