Like other languages, you should first have a basic knowledge of this language. So i suggest you to listen to some radio and have a slight feeling of what Chinese sounds like. then u can start with basic hanyupinying. For most foreiners, the four different tones is a different to master. Don't hurry, practise enough before you proceed. Hope you can find a native speaker accompanying you, so that you can correct the errors immediately. then you can learn some characters. it maybe difficult for you to come up with your own sentences. i think you should read a lot. since each character has a basic meaning, it is not difficult to guess the sentence's meaning. Chinese is a beautiful language, but it requires much effort to master it!! Hope you have made up your mind and persist in the way towards better Chinese!