Learning Mandarin

[sja360]

right i was wondering if there was a basic noobie guide to learning some mandarin and the background on the language online?
reason for it is the local chinese im at the chef's speak it and i'd like to speak to them sometimes instead of the pointing at stuff

 

[sja360]

so you can get discount ?

lol i aint like that

just interested in learning it, it sounds like it could a few years to learn basic phrases like "name is xxx" "im x years old" as i've heard its best to learn the tones and try to learn the background of the mandarin alphabet before jumping in the deep end.
i wont be interested really in learning to write or read the language just speaking it, unless i'm abducted and taken to china

 

[sja360]

right so the chinese use pictures instead of an alphabet? that does i suppose make it harder. does each picture/symbol represent a word or can it represent a single letter aswell?
maybe i should just start looking for information rather than posting here