The consonant that begins a syllable is initial (listen to pronunciation in mp3 format online at http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/chinese-pinyin-initials.html) , they can be:

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r, y, w

The rest parts after initial are finals. Final ( listen to pronunciation in mp3 format online at http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/chinese-pinyin-finals.html ) can be a single vowel, a combination of vowels, or combination of vowels and nasals 'n' or 'ng':

There are 6 simple finals which are single vowels, they are : a, o, e, i, u, ü .

The others are compound finals, they are:

ai, ao, ou, ei, ia, ie, iao, iou, ua, uo, uai, uei, üe,

an, ang, ong, en, eng, in, ing, ian, iang, iong, uen, ueng, uan, uang, ün, üan

The combination of 21 initials and 33 finals in Mandarin romanization (there are five more finals, but they share same symbols as other finals) form about 420 different sounds.

A word consists of initial + final + tone. In some cases, initial can be omitted.

Although most of sounds are generally close to how they are used and pronounced in English, some don't follow English letters exactly and are pronounced differently.

Pay extra attention to differences and listen closely to each Chinese sound, it takes practices to pronounce correctly.

Rosie From Learn Chinese Language Online (http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com)

The goal of Learn Chinese Language Online (LCLO) is to reduce the Mandarin Learning curve, promote and introduce the most efficient way to grasp the broad foundation of Chinese language.

Since I am interested in business topics, class I chose was called The Powered-Up Practice: Building Your Rolodex and was listed by www.CoachVille.com. The class was an hour long. The two leaders had many wonderful tips on ways to improve networking so that you can create more really meaningful business connections. The next one is on Trends (also free) and I am planning to be on it too.

Sometimes scheduled time for teleclass does not fit your schedule. Often leader will record call and then provide audio for sale on his/her website. It is interesting to peruse some sites to see what is available. The www.AwesomeDads.com website has RealAudio and MP3 recordings of their classes.

www.Chabad.org has a sophisticated site for its followers to study Torah. They did not seem to have teleclasses but their material is provided in a choice of English or Hebrew, real audio, streaming MP3 and downloadable MP3. It also offers many downloadable videos on lots of topics including some for kids.

Have you been so busy at work that you haven’t had time to take that course that you want? You are not alone. Our busy lives today make it difficult to schedule a class. Now there is a way to keep up to date or learn something that’s fun and do it in evening, on weekends or on a day off. Whatever your interest you can probably find a class on it somewhere on Internet.