I use NJStar communicator, type in what they call it pin yin, which is the sound it makes for each word, it will pop up a list of words you pick them and form a word or sentence. Alternatively you can buy special pancil and pad that will read what you write and output/match the wod to the screen
You should learn to read write and speak, it makes it easier to remember. I have learned Chinese for 3/4 years and the writing of characters helps you remember the language. @HKS28: I think Japanese is harder cause they have alot more characters.
Chinese is hard isn't it?I heard that they have about 3000 letters although i am not sure about it.Will have to give it a second thought.
It is very nice that you want to learn new language, you can search some online sites for learning or you can get help from any one who have done such courses.
General speaking, It is more difficult for English speaker to learn Chinese, while it is easier for Chinese speaker to learn English . However it is possible you can master Chinese language if you have a good way of study and invest time and energy . In our TV programs ,there are some foreign stars who speak excellent Chinese . (They speak Chinese even better the native Chinese)
First of all, take Chinese classes, then go to Beijing when you can use simple Chinese words and sentences to communicate. Actually, the most difficult for Chinese learners is writing the characters. The second difficult is the pronounciations- different tones of the last character of a sentence might probably have opposite meanings. Conversations with Chinese ppl are easy to make. Good luck man. You could think in this way: you would be able to talk with more than 1.4 billion ppl when you could speak Chinese! LOLS
Very interesting language and culture - I will defintlly going to start learning it in the middle of 2009 Good luck
another way to learn Chinese-- get a Chinese girl/boy to be your girlfriend/boyfriend then you will learn lot of Chinese and the culture