I think for a newbie it's better to get more information about bitcoins. And I wouldn't suggest mining too. If you really need to choose between mining and trading I'd pick bitcoin trading. It's only bacause mining now is really hard and it needs great knowledge and high-powered machinery to do so.
But if you want, there are still other ways to get bitcoins. It's through ptc, bitcoin campaignd, bitcoin faucets and others. Just read more in this forum and do some research on your own and then you'll able to know that there are several ways to earn bitcoin other that these.