A word in English can usually contain many syllables,e.g.optimistic.A word in Chinese can usually contain one or two syllables,e.g.乐观.
English relies on spelling to express the time,for instance,"allowed" happened "in the past"."Allows" happens now.Chinese does not rely on spelling.Chinese depends on temporal words to express the time,for instance,上星期.
It is natural to put the temporal words near the end of a sentence in English,for instance,I visited the library on 8 October 2010.It is natural to put the temporal words near the beginning of a sentence in Chinese,for instance,我二〇一〇年十月八日到图书馆去.
English relies on prepositions,e.g.Jack was a student in the past ten years.Chinese does not rely on prepositions so much,e.g.过去十年,他是学生.(在is not necessary.当中is not necessary.)