Tips for easing into Chinese - don't worry, keep talking

It's easy to be daunted by Mandarin, so heed the words of Summer Xiang and Ben Johnson. They each offer excellent advice for first-time students.

Xiang teaches Mandarin to several of us at China Daily and encourages even full-time workers with little spare time to have a go. "If you don't have much time, don't worry," she says.

"Concentrate on simple sentences and you will still find it very rewarding when you communicate with the locals.