I've heard it said that in order to read most Japanese, you will need to know at least 2000 Kanji. Master this book and you are half way there!!! What makes Kanji hard to learn is to most Americans, they look like a bunch of lines. Since each character represents a whole word or idea, even if you don't know how the word is pronounced, if you know what it means, you can still understand. What this book does is show little pictures so suddenly what once was random lines is now a little picture and you find yourself saying, "Oh, okay... I see it now." Not all of the Kanji will have their own picture to explain them but they are grouped with similar Kanji so you can say, "Okay... well that part is like that water one... and these lines look like steam... okay... I get how this might mean humid." It does not give the Japanese or Chinese word for the Kanji because the whole purpose of Kanji was to create a form of writing that could be universally understood no matter what your regional dialect. So you when you see the Kanji you will translate it into English. No help whatsoever in phone conversations, but in real life, you might be able to write it down and whoever you're are communicating with will understand that kanji. I know. Lame. But if you want to be able to read signs to yourself and know what the Kanji means... this book is pure genius. Let me repeat... Genius. ( )