In General, When you knit straight row by row, you read from right to left for the odd rows and left to right for the even rows. There will be a number indicating each row and you should start at the point where the number is. For example, 1 is on the right side, so you'll start at the right and move to the left. 2 is on the left and you start from left to right.
In circular knitting, all rows are read from right to left.
Here is a video I found that explain how to read the chart.