what is the best way to learn pinyin and work on tones ?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Learning the tones is best done with practice, listening and speaking LOTS of Mandarin. Pinyin is much easier and may be equated to learning a new alphabet. There are lots of on line resources to help with the pinyin. A good free one is at: http://www.instantspeakchinese.com/pinyin/index.cfm Make sure you hover your mouse pointer over the pinyin texts underlined on the right - you can hear the sounds.

anonymous · Answer

I think you can study them together with some graphic and some object, maybe it will help.

anonymous · Answer

first ,learn to pronounce the 21 pinyin letters ,then study to speak them fluently.

anonymous · Answer

Try ninhao.com. It's an excellent site.

alfia · Answer

The link in spielberg's post is now defunct. Here is a working link. http://www.instantspeakchinese.com/ There are quite a few free lessons and it does look like an excellent resource. Especially nice is the fact that you don't have to register to access the free material, as you do with ninhao.com. I like the following free java applet-based flashcard program for reviewing characters. http://www.mandarintools.com/flashcard.html