Well, it is a problem if you want to read Chinese, I would suggest you to make a plan for studying Chinese characters, 5 words per day, if you can make the commitment, in 1 year, you will be able to read.

Chinese is different compare to like English. The characters are not based on Pinyin. You have to memorize the characters to be able to read and write Chinese.

not a problem. on 新华字典 there are only 250 most frequently used characters. if you spend some time to learn them, you will feel much easier even when you meet other characters cuz you can guess the pronunciation by looking at the components (they often have the same or similar sound). for example, 妈 means "mother", its pinyin is ma1. on the left is 女 meaning "female". on the right is 马 (pinyin ma3) meaning "horse", but 马 is used to give you some clue for pronouncing 妈. it's just an example, 妈 itself is a very common character.

you know when we are young, we always learnt Chinese words one by one, write down it on notebook, repeat it again, read, again and again, it's really hard, but be more patient, you will handle it. ^_^

why are you want to learn chinese words ?you want to be a learner ?if you just want to talk ,you neednt learn it ~i think its difficult for foreigners ~