A few general Helpful Hints, -at coming to Grips with Chinese!

I Understand the Unfamiliarity, even "Difficulty" with some, -regarding Tones.

*But Look and Think at it This Way!*

Lets for a moment pretend that our own English Language, (or French, German, or Russian etc, as the case may be), -is Tonal!
Hypothetically here, -Lets suppose that our word "Box", said Even and Flat, means just that, -a "Box". Now say it with the Tone Rising to its Final Letter "X", -and that could mean "House". A Falling Tone toward that "x", -could mean "Car". And a Mid Dipping Tone, the Lowest part of the Tone being at that Middle Letter "O", could for example mean "Horse". English so here has 4 Tones, -as does Mandarin Chinese. Now to take our actual English word "Horse", -also give it the same 4 Tones, which yields 4 other Definitions and Meanings. (Incidentally one of them cannot be "Horse" itself, -in that that was earlier Defined under one of the Tones of "Box"). *Now How Hard are any of these to Remember or Say!?* Not Really!, -once you put the Concept of Tones on an English Template! You can further make up a totally New Word, -Not even in our own Language, (and perhaps also Not in any other), -"Rork" for instance. Likewise assign it 4 Different Tones and thus also Meanings for other common English Words. Or use an actual French or Spanic
sh word, -doing the same sorts of Tone Assignations with them. And you've Got it! On and On. Tones are Alien, Unfamiliar, and Different! But they're Really *Not* so Hard!!! Once you so Get the Familiarity and Hang of it!....

Characters! All the many Thousands of them! (Actually there's No more than 2,000-to at most 4,000, -that you really need to know! -If we had to know only that many Words in our own Western Languages!, -That would be a Cinch!).

Here with Characters, -its Most Helpful to Know that they're Really Broken Down into Far Fewer Categories! Their Concept of the "Radical" part of the Character, -of which there are only 214!, -has a lot to do with that. You see the same Characters and Character Subparts, -repeating themselves Over and Over! Like the Familiar Letters of our own English Language.

Also, its Helpful to Know that each Complete Character, -represents but One Syllable. Additionally, since China has entered the World's more Modern Age, -2 or 3 complete Chinese Characters stand Side by Side, to form a given Word. More Ancient Chinese always used only One Character, to represent a Meaning or Word. Many of these of course still remain. But still even with more than One Character in a given Word, No "Brand New" Character itself, enters the picture here!

Now tying this Concept of Characters here, -in with the earlier one of Tones, -like with our word "Box", -a given Character itself, -Never Changing in Form in and of itself (except for the small Tone Indicating Marks), -can be *said* in 4 Different Ways! In 4 Different Tones, -in other words.

Chinese is also a Syllable Based Language, -not an Alphabetical one. Though a Romanized "Alphabet" has been devised. Technically the Language *Doesn't* even HAVE an Alphabet! Ignore that for now if that Scares you, -Like with Tones and Characters, -This really *Isn't* nearly so Hard!, -one you "come to Know it a little!". Perhaps it would be Helpful to Picture our own Familiar, Common English Syllables, -imagining our Language Based on that, -the component Letters being only a Subpart. As before with Tones and a Character's Radicals.

As someone else here has already mentioned, -the Grammar itself, -is often Incredibly Simple! Often Far More than with our Own English!

That being so, -there are still some New and Novel Aspects therein, -such as the "Topic-Comment Structure". But thats NO more Difficult, -than in our saying for example in English, -"As for Desert Survival..." (the Topic), "...I am Most Prepared and Knowledgeable". (the Comment). Thats *All* that is!, -and its NO more Difficult, Involved, or "Hard"!, -than that!!! We've got Subjects and Predicates, -They've got Topics and Comments.

And while I of course have Great Respect and Regard for the Chinese Valueing of Great Balance and Beauty, -in the formation of their Characters and Script, -I as a Westerner take the Shortcut of "if it looks like a Triangle with 2 Lines coming out of its Side", -then thats how I Learn, Write, and Remember it! With all Due and Great Respect to Chinese Culture and Language, -This Method I find to be Good Enuff for me! I Can't be engaging in Calligraphic Art! Every time I would have to Write Chinese! For Crying Out Loud!

Theres a few of the Most Helpful all round Highlights. Others of course do Exist and Abound.