Nee how? That’s what I heard. “Nee how,” Shuen repeated, smiling and extending her hand. “Nee how,” until finally, the aha moment. She was asking “How are you?

” “Oh, I’m fine, and you, Shuen? Nee how,” I responded. I, without the slightest natural talent for languages,had understood and uttered my first words in Mandarin Chinese within the first few minutes of my first lesson. Let’s call it “initiation by ear. ” Whenthe class ended, I left feeling very good — hon how, that is.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Chinese lessons would have been almost exclusively for the scholar or for second-generation Chinese at the insistence of the first generation. Today, China is hot. It is big news and big business. Knowing basic Mandarin, the official language of the country and the one spoken by most Chinese, helps business travelers leap over cultural differences, shows a commitment to those differences and could offer a competitive edge in ensuring a business meeting in China is successful.

To find out how difficult — or easy — it would be to learn basic Mandarin, I checked out four methods. Two are nationally available classes. One is an Internet program. One is a book with a small (one-inch) CD. The first and perhaps most important thing I learned as a beginner was to forget, for the moment, the intricate written characters of the Chinese language, and approach it instead on the conversational level.

The second thing I learned was to concentrate on the language’s simpler aspects. Each Chinese character is one syllable, for example, and many Chinese words are one syllable. As two instructors told me, the grammar is not so very different from English and in some instances, less complex: There are no verb conjugations; the verb remains the same whether it follows a singular or plural noun and tenses change by adding one word.

Pronunciation became easier once Ilearned Pinyin, the transliteration system that applies English spellings to Chinese sounds. Many of those initial word sounds are close to English-language sounds and the English equivalents for the few that are not, aren’t that difficult to master. The letter “c” at the beginning of a word, for instance, sounds like “ts” in cats; “q” like “ch” in cheap; “r” like the “zhr” sound in pleasure; “x” like “sh” in sheep; and “zh” like “j” in judge. Final sounds also have their phonetic counterparts; among them, “a” is “ah”; “e” is “ee”; “ei” is “ay”; and “u” sounds like “oo” in moon.

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, that is, the meaning of a word can change by saying it in one of four different pitches. At the beginner level, listening to the instructor or Internet program demonstrates how tone can change meaning. As a Chinese friend alerted me, the pronunciation of any given word may vary depending on where the person speaking was born. An instructor from Shanghai may pronounce words slightly differently from a Taiwan-born or Beijing-born instructor. But is that so different from the accents of a New Yorker, a Midwesterner and a Southerner in the United States?

Before knowing this or anything else about the Chinese language, I went into my first Mandarin class as innocent — and ignorant — as could be.

The Inlingua International Language Center (http://www.inlingua.com) has been teaching languages in Europe since 1967 and in the United States since 1971. With 300 centers in 30 countries, 28 in the United States, the language center offers instruction for 280 languages — or, as it proclaims, everything from Arabic to Zulu. Inlingua prides itself in “training professionals across borders,” according to Rita Capolarello, director of the New York center, and is geared to building programs around the individual needs of the business traveler. Prices for classes vary depending on the language, where it is taught, whether the student takes private lessons or class lessons and on the length of a lesson.

At Inlingua, most classes are 45 minutes, and the emphasis is on the practical, conversational use of the language. By the end of my 45-minute private class, I was able to say: how are you; my name is Eunice; you are (Tom, Dick, Harry); and very good. I learned how to make a sentence negative (add “bu” before the verb) and how to turn a sentence into a question (add “ma” at the end of the sentence). And while Shuen, my instructor, encourages students to record the lessons, no books are allowed during class. Just listen, repeat; listen, repeat. And it works. She does suggest using books and CDs at home, however, to reinforce what we learn in class.

Established in 1878, Berlitz (http://www.berlitz.us) is considered the grandfather of language schools. It now has 463 locations in 63 countries, more than 60 in the United States. Despite its size and worldwide locations, all lessons are based on the same standardized conversation method. Berlitz offers 10 levels of proficiency, so students register according to their level of expertise. Martha Rodriguez of Berlitz in New York suggested I complete at least the first four levels of proficiency before planning a trip to Shanghai or Beijing. Pricing depends on needs, schedule, budget and the number of classes per week. Two classes per week is the minimum; Berlitz recommends three.

My two-hour-45-minute class consists of three 45-minute sessions with five-minute breaks between. My instructor, Musika, explained why she does not focus on grammar: “It makes the language dead.” Instead, in an intensive first class, she spoke to me in Chinese, I repeated, she spoke, I repeated, so that by the end, I was able to repeat the words for tea, milk and wine and to ask “Where are my chopsticks?” I also became familiar with possessive pronouns, from my and mine to his, hers and yours. Support materials include a book based on the teacher’s manual and a CD; both to be used at home. In class, though, it’s listen and chat — and learn.

Berlitz has a special program for business travelers. Tailored to individual needs, the focus can encompass transactions, contracts, real estate, presentations, general meeting or basic Wall Street business. A business traveler may also opt for regular classes, for total immersion, for cultural coaching — whatever best fits his or her needs.

If you do not live in a city where Inlingua or Berlitz has a teaching center or if you find it difficult to fit classes into your daily schedule, try Rosetta Stone (http://www.rosettastone.com). Begun in 1992 when CD-ROM technology became widely available, Rosetta Stone now offers 30 computer-based language programs, one of which is Mandarin Chinese. Like the face-to-face classes I attended, Rosetta Stone does not rely on teaching methods that include memorization or translation. I log on and by the end of the first hour of Level 1, having seen the photo and read the pronunciation while listening to the name of the subject in the photo, I learn how to say girl, boy, man, woman, dog, cat, horse, elephant, car and airplane. This is learning the way we all learned language as children — word by word. One advantage for a slow language learner, like me, is the option to click on a photo and hear the word over and over and over while repeating it over and over and over.

Finally, I turned to a paperback book titled Speak E Z Chinese in Phonetic English by Zhao Fang and Timothy Green (http://www.cathaycafe.com), which comes with a one-inch CD. The book begins with a helpful pronunciation guide, including examples of the four tones and how to use them, as well as a list of Pinyin spelling. From there, it goes on to the basics, giving the English, Pinyin and Chinese character for each word or phrase. And since it is geared to the moment, it includes such vital words and phrases as email (dee-en-zih), Internet (yeen tuh wahng), send a fax (fah chwahn jen), receive a fax (shoh chwahn jen), make an international call (dah gwuh jee chahng too), KFC (Ken duh jee) and McDonalds (Mye dahng laow).

But what do you do if there is no national school such as Inlingua or Berlitz in your city and you prefer one- on- one lessons to Internet programs? May wen tee — no problem. Check the telephone book for local language centers. Among the many available in New York, for instance, the China Institute in America (tel 212 744 8181, http://www.chinainstitute.org) offers group classes, private lessons and tutoring in Mandarin. On the West Coast, the LosAngeles Chinese Learning Center (tel 626 487 8909, http://chineseschool.net firms.com) offers both group classesand private lessons in Mandarin at various locations.

Having sampled four different types of language instruction, I’ve come to this conclusion: I react well to the personal one-on-one of a private lesson. At the same time, logging on to the Internet whenever I want and spending as much time as I need is an unbeatable advantage. Plus, having the paperback book to browse through and to look up needed phrases, any time, anywhere, is extremely useful. Which is to say, whatever works for the individual is best for that individual. This introduction to Mandarin has opened a door to a new world for me. Xi huan — I like it.