In many languages, the way words are formed can seem a bit arbitrary. Why do we call "table" a piece of furniture that holds things or "knife" a sharpened metal object? These terms seem to have no direct connection to the objects or concepts they represent, and we could have chosen any other name. Although many of these words have roots in ancient languages that are no longer used daily, their original meaning may be unknown to most.

Chinese, on the other hand, follows a much clearer and direct logic in the formation of words. Most terms are created by combining two or more characters that, when united, generate a new meaning in a comprehensible and coherent way. In fact, most words in Chinese are composed of two characters, making each word a combination of meanings that together form a new idea.

For example, in Chinese the word for "telephone" is 电话 [diànhuà], which literally means "electric conversation". The character 电 [diàn] means "electricity", while 话 [huà] means "spoken words" or "conversation". Similarly, the word for "computer" is 电脑 [diànnǎo], which literally translates as "electric brain". Here, 电 [diàn] again means "electricity", and 脑 [nǎo] means "brain".

This logical way of building words in Chinese not only facilitates the memorization of vocabulary, but also offers a clearer perspective on how speakers of the language perceive and describe the world.