I forget one thing, sorry. Be good at parts of the Chinese words,it is called"BiHua"(笔画） One of the website of 笔画's picture is"http://dzxy.363.net/pic/28.bmp"

At first,it'll be better to learn PinYin which is the pronunciation of Chinese, like"a o e" and so on, then after U get them really well, U can have a try to learn simple words, like:一，二，三，四（1,2,3,4).Try your best to learn how to write it and how to pronounce it. Beacuse sometimes familar word will be pronounced familarly or half of the pronunciation is the same. U R in China,it'll also be good to live with some Chinese guys together,especially his of her English or Russian is preety good!