If you want to learn to write Chinese characters, I recommend Skritter mobile app. It took me only a month to commit about 300 characters to memory with 85% accuracy (incidentally, mostly the same 300 characters I had completely forgotten when I learned them 10 years ago)
I would recommend up front, to spend more time practicing speaking and listening, and not obsess too much about the characters, although you will eventually need to learn them. I learned the opposite way and I regret it, in the sense that I spent a lot of time learning to read Chinese, especially vocabulary through Pinyin, and while I know about 1000 words now, enough for basic conversation, my listening skills are horrible. I can speak, but I don't recognize what people are saying in response because I mentally spend too much time trying to assemble the phonemes and translate them via "slow brain"
The best thing you can do to learn honestly, is to join a group, or find native speakers to practice with. Today it's easier than ever with online chat through HelloChinese or Verbling, or other mechanisms over Skype or Hangouts. I found lots of local groups on meetup.com where native speakers help learners practice Chinese and in return, native English speakers help them with their English. Something about face-to-face practice helps burn things into your mental muscle memory more than independent study via reading.
I would recommend up front, to spend more time practicing speaking and listening, and not obsess too much about the characters, although you will eventually need to learn them. I learned the opposite way and I regret it, in the sense that I spent a lot of time learning to read Chinese, especially vocabulary through Pinyin, and while I know about 1000 words now, enough for basic conversation, my listening skills are horrible. I can speak, but I don't recognize what people are saying in response because I mentally spend too much time trying to assemble the phonemes and translate them via "slow brain"
The best thing you can do to learn honestly, is to join a group, or find native speakers to practice with. Today it's easier than ever with online chat through HelloChinese or Verbling, or other mechanisms over Skype or Hangouts. I found lots of local groups on meetup.com where native speakers help learners practice Chinese and in return, native English speakers help them with their English. Something about face-to-face practice helps burn things into your mental muscle memory more than independent study via reading.