EDUCATION - Learn To Read Chinese In Eight Minutes

To a non-Chinese speaker (like me), and especially to a Westerner (like me), Chinese is the most impenetrable family of languages on Earth. While there may be only an eighth as many syllables as in English, the tonal variations for each syllable in Standard Chinese impute vastly different meanings. The word "ma" can mean linen, horse, mother or scold, depending on how your tone rises or falls.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/04/25/learn-to-read-chines