One idea, three languages, three lengths: why X counts Korean and Japanese double

X allows up to 280 per post, but that 280 is a sum of weights, one per character. A Latin letter weighs 1. A Korean, Japanese or Chinese character, or an emoji, weighs 2. A link counts as 23 whatever its length. Write only in Korean or Japanese and you really have about 140 characters.

That's why people who post in more than one language often say the same post overflows in just one of them. On screen the Japanese version looks shortest, and yet it's often the Japanese version that goes over on X.

---

Why the lengths split by language

• One character holds a different amount of meaning. Japanese and Chinese pack a lot into one character, so they look shortest on screen. English usually runs longest, and Korean sits in between.
• Each channel has its own limit. X uses the weights above, and Threads allows 500 while LinkedIn allows 3,000. Those limits are larger, so the same Japanese post can fit on Threads or LinkedIn and still run over on X.
• Links change the count again. On X a short link and a long link both count as 23. Count a link by how long it looks and the numbers won't match.

---

Harder than length

Length can be counted. Tone can't. A line that sounds natural in English can come across as stiff in Japanese and read like a translation in Korean. So people who write in several languages often say they write each language's version from scratch, and read each version on its own before it goes out.

In the tool I'm building, X is counted with the weights above and links as 23, and Threads and LinkedIn by number of characters. If the connected X account has a paid subscription, the count uses that account's limit. The number in the editor and the check before scheduling use the same calculation, and a post over the limit can't be scheduled.

---

What you only know by reading it yourself

A tool can get the numbers right, but whether a post sounds natural to someone reading it in that language only shows when you read it in that language. If a version you've cut to fit sounds off, fix that before worrying about length.

If you post in more than one language, which one is hardest to write in?