The document discusses Chinese characters and their components. It explains that characters are made up of smaller parts called components, which can provide clues to the character's meaning. The document provides examples of characters and their components, identifying the different types of components like base and bound. It emphasizes that learning components is important for understanding and remembering Chinese characters.

1. Looking at components (parts of characters) and putting them together.

3. Try writing it down. Don’t go back and look again. Now look at the following slide. It is the same character but this time the parts, which are called components, are labeled. Look at the labeled components, then look at it as a whole character again.

5. Try writing it again without looking back to check! Was it easier this time? Why? Probably because you saw it as components put together, rather than a bunch of black lines. That character means ‘addiction’ and you can see that one of the components means illness. This shows you that the components can help you to figure out the meaning of characters – although this doesn’t always work!

11. 言 This character has 3 components

13. 饺 This character has 3 components