It is easier to learn to read Chinese than you might think! The purpose of this book is to give you a knowledge of the most basic characters of the language. These are called radicals (from the Latin word for "root"). Once you learn these 214 "roots" of the majority of Chinese characters, you will easily be able to see the parts that make up the more complex characters. You will also often have a hint about how the complex characters are pronounced. Even better, you will have mastered about 10% of the characters you need to know in order to read most of what is written in modern Chinese.