first you have to learn pinyin，it's like english alphabet,it shows how each chinese character is pronounced.then,you have to read chinese loudly,it can help you remember chinese.after that,you can buy some simple pinyin books,and try to talk with chinese.at last ,if you master all the above,you can try to write chinese,it's vivid,you can guess its meaning from its shape. (if you can't get the simple pinyin books,give me your address, i'll send you one) lillian min

start from me....please. i'll tell you start from the Pinyin and 4 tones.

You'd better start form characters. Start form pinyin is not a good choice.

I also like to use a flash card program on my computer called anki it's to help me memorize chinese characters and words(BTW the anki online database has LOTS of chinese language flashcards and they are free). Oh and if you can find it I suggest the F109 Mandarin king electronic dictionary. Its got a section that shows you stroke by stroke (including proper stroke order) on how to write chinese characters.

Congratulations on your decision to learn Chinese. I think the best book series for you to start with is the "short-term spoken chinese" 汉语口语速成。 printed by Beijing Language and culture university press. Start with the green books(two of them), then blue then purple and finally orange level. also get the CDs for them if you can. If you have an android phone or iphone/ipad/ipod touch or android tablet download the pleco dictionary software. its great! i use it all the time on my phone. good luck on your chinese studies.