A chart of commonly used Chinese characters in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages was devised by the Renmin University of China to enable easier communication for tourists, Beijing Daily reported on Monday.

The chart, which has 808 Chinese characters that also appear in the Japanese and Korean languages, would enable tourists to understand about 80 percent of road signs in the three countries, the report said.

Despite the fact that the characters have different pronunciations in each language, they have similar meanings as they all originate from the traditional Chinese language, according to Shen Shuzi, associate professor with the university's school of foreign studies, who took part in the program.

The chart would enable people from the three countries to communicate by writing, the report said.