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Q: What are the ways you use to learn Mandarin?
If you are trying to learn the langauge here, what methods do you find useful? I have been trying for years off and on, but I haven't found a method I can stick to for more than a month or so.
Move to a little town where noone speaks english and just interact with people of the street.
I practice everyday for at least an hour and try to use it instead of English around the house. I also watch some Chinese television which is really helpful for learning tones and what to say in certain situations. Repetition and constant useage are working pretty well for me.
I want to know your ultimate goal. If you just want to deal with chinese people in your daily life, go talk to people or make a deal with people who speak good madarin. Or you need to go to a institution/college which is professional and qualified to offer the language study.
@blodamon my goal is pretty basic. I would like to have general conversation level Mandarin. Right now I am at the survival level, which suits me for day to day stuff, but falls short when I am trying to have a conversation that lasts more than a few sentances.
My main problem is that I work 10-14 hours per day and on weekends I try to spend time with my family. So time for any kind of study is minimal. I have tried one-on-one tutors and while that works if I can find a really good tutor, finding a really good tutor takes more time than I can devote to the task.
I have tried formal classes, CDs (Pimslur, Rosetta Stone, etc...), online (Chinapod, etc...) and books. None of them seem to work for me because once I am away from the tapes, everything I learned is almost immediately forgotten.
My wife is Chinese, but if anyone has ever had their wife or gf try to teach them Mandarin, you probably know what a disaster that is. 
So basically, my question is: If you only have an hour or so to study per day, what is the most efficient use of that time for you?
Sangoku:
I know it's stupid to suggest this idea, but if you have a child, a presume your wife is Chinese, she is either speaking Chinese to him or he may be learning Chinese at school. Well, my wife bought lots of children book for my child, and for each of them, there are Chinese characters and the pinyin.....then it's just a matter to take a dictionary to learn things you don't know... a) you can then take part in your child's activities too b) you learn the basis of Chinese language and more, because some children's books are full of idiomatic expressions or other common expressions. For me, I either read by myself a bit when I have time or practice with my child with some cards.
go hang out wit chineses. but not too much. or else ull get crazy.
Go out and speak to chinese people using mandarin language.You see, the fastest way to learn language is to use it during learning.Not so long,I hope you could speak chinese fluently than the other learners.
Im the same as Sangoku and join in the kids lessons at bed time
But I also learn from songs that I hear on CDs and TV
It can be an easy way to pick up a phrase or two
