The tiles
A deal uses sixteen kinds of tiles. You only need to tell them apart by symbol — reading Chinese is not required.
Numbers
Nine tiles carry the numbers one to nine, with a large digit above and the 萬 character below. One never pairs with nine.
Winds
Four tiles: east, south, west, north. Two east tiles match; east and south do not.
Dragons
Three tiles: red, green and white. Red and green are obvious by colour, white is the blue rectangle.
Beginner labels
Switch on beginner labels and every tile shows its number or wind in Latin letters. Handy until the characters stick.