This is a good introduction to tones in Chinese. I personally think that tone pairs is the right way to go, mostly because they incorporate all important tone changes in Chinese. Therefore, as soon... Read more.

sinosplice.com

This website contains a wealth of information about characters and romanisation. It's maintained by Mark Swofford. There are many articles about Pinyin as well as a number of useful tools, which I ... Read more.

pinyin.info

This is a course offered by Peking University and Coursera. It's free to use, but you need to register (you can preview it before you register, though). There are six units, each taking roughly one... Read more.

coursera.org

This clip introduces all the initials and finals in Pinyin (using the first tone). It adds value to the rest of the resources here because the camera is pointed to the speaker’s mouth, showing clea... Read more.

youtube.com

This is a basic but fairly comprehensive overview of the phonology of Standard Chinese (or Mandarin, as it might be better known as). This site covers consonants, vowels, syllables, tones, word str... Read more.

en.wikipedia.org

This is a comprehensive introduction to the world of digital Chinese, including the following: Script Basics Activate Keyboards for Typing Browser Recommendations Web Developm... Read more.

sites.psu.edu

Another web-based resource with recorded audio for all syllables with all tones. You can also get the “spelling” of the syllable read to you, ie. Initial, final and then the whole syllable. Read more.

lost-theory.org

This is a very in-depth article about how Pinyin is written, focusing mainly on the letters used, the typeface, arrangement on the page, and so on. It probably contains more about this topic than y... Read more.

thetype.com

ChineseMe is the most integrated Mandarin course, designed for motivated learners who have decided to become fluent. It is an interactive textbook that adapts itself to your interests. The course i... Read more.

chinese-me.com

This is a character-by-character beginner course in Chinese, provided free of charge at the Open Languages Project. It teaches you to read (and listen to) Chinese by explaining and introducing one ... Read more.

oplang.org

This site offers basics, self-paced lessons where you can learn basic vocabulary and grammar (usually with audio as well). There are also Skype lessons and other more interactive parts of the site ... Read more.

culturealley.com

This video is produced by Hutong School and explains the very basics of Chinese tones, suitable for the complete beginner or those that are thinking about learning Chinese and want to know a little... Read more.

youtube.com