I've been studying Japanese for about 5 years and Spanish for about 4 (but my Japanese is far better--I've focused more on that).
So I'm decently comfortable with both of them--I've gotten used to the Japanese writing system, and both of the languages are very easy to pronounce and spell.
I'm afraid I can't say the same for Mandarin, at the moment at least. Learning a language that's not so straightforward in pronunciation (and the pinyin is still difficult for me to understand) is totally alien to me, and I'm not exactly sure how to start studying in the most effective way. It really frustrates me when I have trouble pronouncing something.
And it's been so long since I started Japanese and Spanish (the latter was in school, so it was at an easy pace), I can't remember how I started or how I got better. I've only been studying Chinese for about 2 or 3 weeks right now, and I know this sounds crazy, but it's frustrating me that I still can't get the hang of it yet--when I think I do, I find some evidence later that what I thought was wrong. I still can only say incredibly basic sentences--"Hello, I am an American student" is the most complicated thing I can say at the moment.
So I'm wondering...of course besides listening to this podcast, what's the best way to learn vocabulary---besides survival phrases? I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions.
Also, if you can remember, how long did it take you before you got the hang of Mandarin?
