Hints about how to get started on learning Chinese and how to participate in group activities:

First of all,  learn and remember pinyin.

PINYIN uses alphabets to tell you how to pronounce Chinese words. As  you all know, the basic thing we need to learn first for a new language is its pronunciation rules. For example, we learn how to pronounce "a" ( as in "apple" , "bad"), "e" (as in "bed"), "u" (as in "bus", "put") when we learn English at the beginning. It's just the same with learning pinyin in Chinese language. 
 

Please check out the topic" Chinese Pinyin" in this group for links about pinyin.The following are very helpful links for learning pinyin as they are pronounced in English words with the same sound.  

http://www.zapchinese.com/Chinese-lessons/Lesson03/Lesson03.htm (Vowels in pinyin)

http://www.zapchinese.com/Chinese-lessons/Lesson04/Lesson04.htm (Cosonants in pinyin)

I'll also give a link on pinyinpractice.com here. You can practice pinyin and tones on the site after you have a grasp of the basic vowels and consonants. ( The site is also introduced in topic "Chinese Pinyin")  http://pinyinpractice.com/tones.htm 

                                                                                                                                                                                Edited by: Cherry (busuu.com)

PS: A. Feel free toask any questions about your chinese learning, You can send a message to me .(my message address will wirte down below.)

      B. Send your chinese artical to my message. Helping your chinese by correcting your chinese articles.

      C.Learn and practice your spoken Chinese with native speaker(or me) on Skype.

       Thank kay292 very much for posting so many usefull chinese expressions on her blog,you guys can check her blog:http://www.language-exchanges.org/blog/58337    I will post some basic words and expressions on my blog later on. 

My Email:perfectliumao@yahoo.com.cn

My Skype:perfectliumao

Leo