But we'll go beyond the normal dialogue, and get to the real nitty-gritty of must know Mandarin, with phrases such as "I'm sorry, I don't speak Mandarin" - just think of the enormous number of situations in which you'll be able to use that phrase!
And we'll learn a few phrases by rote, which might help break the ice when meeting a Chinese speaker - your neighbour, colleague or storekeeper.
Download the audio to your mp3 player and listen back to the discussion - then start practising.
Mandarin is the bridging or common language between Chinese people. There are seven main dialect, as well as numerous minor dialects, but Mandarin is the official language and most people would speak and/or understand Mandarin, even if they are Cantonese speakers from the south of China. (Most of Sydney's Chinese residents speak Cantonese, as they are from the south).
The difference between Mandarin and Cantonese is more than an accent difference, such as that between North American and Scottish accents, but the written version is the same. And, Mandarin has just four tones, while Cantonese has nice, and tones are one of the more difficult challenges for English speakers to learn the language - so we're learning the easier of the two!

Lesson Five
One - yi (pinyin) - eee (closest English phonetic)

Two - er - er
Three - san - sarn
Four - si - sr
Five - wu - woo
Six - liu - leo
Seven - qi - tchee
Eight - ba - baa
Nine - jiu - jeo
Ten - shi - shr