Languages such as Chinese, Korean and Japanese have what is like pictograph or idiographic type of language.

【翻译】对于北美或欧洲人来说，汉语、韩语和日语等这样的语言，具备了象形文字或独特类型的语言。
网友把这几句话搞清楚了，就明白为什么 what is like 不该删掉。

I ate an apple.
I ate what was called an apple.
I ate what was like an apple.
I ate something like an apple.
我吃了一个苹果。（是真正的苹果）
我吃了一个所谓的苹果。（可能不是名副其实的苹果）
我吃了一个像苹果的东西。（可能是橘子）
我吃了苹果之类的东西。（类似苹果的东西）

如果这样表达，it 指什么？what 做什么成分？原本 what 是融合性关系代词，作宾语从句主语的。等于：something that...

I ate what it was like an apple. （误）

I ate what was like an apple. = I ate something that was like an apple. （正）