I have recently been interested in studying the Chinese language, because I think that it is the language of the future. Regardless of whether you share that viewpoint or not, it would be very helpful indeed. I think that for non Chinese, learning Mandarin language and Simplified Chinese script would be most practical.
This thread is for all learners of the Chinese language to share tips, suggestions, materials, etc.
I speak and read Chinese at a lower advanced level.
If you're serious about learning Chinese to a high level, it's worth investing time at the beginning to work on tones and pronunciation. Get a teacher and drill it so you can easily distinguish and produce the correct tones. It will be boring and frustrating, but it will pay off. When you first start, you will be able to distinguish the tones of individual words, but in the context of a sentence it is much more difficult. If you can't get the tones right, you will be understood when using basic Chinese, but as you get more advanced your toneless Chinese will be difficult to understand and just sound silly. A good example of this is Serpentza, the YouTube guy. He has a very decent grasp of the Chinese language, but his tones and pronunciation are horrendous, and it's difficult to understand him when he speaks.
If it's possible (probably not unless you have a teacher from Taiwan), learn the Zhuyin fuhao phonetic system, rather than pinyin. If you use pinyin with Roman letters, you will read them as you do in English and make small pronunciation errors. If you take the time to learn zhuyin, you will internalise more correct pronunciation.
Decide whether you want to learn traditional or simplified Chinese. Simplified is easier and more practical since it is used in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. Traditional characters are only used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I believe simplified characters are ugly and a travesty - traditional Chinese characters are beautiful, full of meaning, and one of mankind's greatest achievements.
Spend some time carefully choosing a text book and stick to it. Get a teacher, preferably twice a week if you can afford it. Group classes are usually a waste of time. Avoid female teachers, even though they are more common.
Lastly, if you're really serious, you'll have to immerse yourself by living in a Chinese speaking country, either China or Taiwan. There are very few people who reach proficient levels of Chinese without immersing themselves, unlike European languages.
Deciding to learn Chinese is no small undertaking. You'll need to learn 2500-3000 characters to understand 90% of a newspaper, but that wouldn't mean you're even close to literacy as an educated Chinese person can read around 8000 characters. Make sure you have a good reason and motivation for learning Chinese. After that, good luck. It's a journey.
