I'm mainly interested in French, Spanish, Chinese, and maybe Japanese. PLEASE don't give me links to download something or watch videos. My bandwidth on my internet is ridiculous, and can hardly go to text-based sites without going over. I'm mostly looking into Rosetta Stone, and they look very good, but cheaper is obviously better. ^^; Unless, of course, you could link me to a reliable site that sells them a bit cheaper would be great. Anything helps!

I am a native English-speaker studying Mandarin Chinese. I am interested in getting feedback from native English-speakers who have successfully become fluent in Mandarin Chinese: 1) From the time you began studying Mandarin Chinese, approximately how long did it take you to actually become fluent in the language? (i.e. able to communicate all of your ideas and interests to a native Mandarin-speaker, and also able to understand 80% of what they say) 2) Approximately how much time did you spend studying Mandarin Chinese each day in order to reach fluency? What type of schooling/classes did you take, if any? 3) Which books, online resources, audio books, ect. Do you recommended to facilitate learning Mandarin Chinese? 4) What did you find to be the most beneficial and helpful things that you did as you progressed toward Mandarin Chinese fluency? 5) How important do you think it is to study simplified/traditional Chinese characters concurrently while learning the spoken language?

Hello, can someone tell me what these mean? Thanks so much. 你什么都不做，不用说，我心上的那朵花便朝你开了..... 讨厌你那什么都不在乎的样子，其实心里清楚得很 这个决定，万水千山也拦不住我.....

I know basic things such as greetings, food, a few actions...things like that. But I'm wondering about how to speak Chinese well. I'd like any help about how to speak Chinese fluently.

What method did you use to learn and read Chinese? What mistakes did you make?

Does anyone know of any worldwide (it can be anywhere at all) distance learning undergraduate courses in the field of East Asian/Chinese cultural studies (not language)?

If I study for about an hour a day.

I want to get a tattoo with this sentence in Chinese language. Thank you. Please respond.

I really only want to learn the basics... but I’m not sure if software is the way to learn Chinese and my schedule is not very stable so I really don't feel like going to classes. I want to hear from people that have actually tried software without knowing any Chinese at all, to know how effective it is. Also tell me how much time you spent on Chinese learning and which software did you use to learn Chinese. Thanks!

In my Chinese learning, I found that hearing the words would get me started.

生活开始变得重复 刚来时 喜欢到处走走 到处交朋友 一年不经意间过去了 才忽然发现 自己已经是个宅女了 居然放假十天 除了出门填饱肚子 其余时间都在房间对着电脑度过 开始感觉自己有些颓废 心情也和新加坡一起进入了雨季 I used google translator but it just did not make sense..!!! Can you please tell me what the meaning of this paragraph is? In addition, where can I find some good teens Chinese learning materials?

I want to improve my Chinese speaking and writing, but I can't find a site that specifically provides this online Chinese learning.

I want to learn Chinese at online Chinese school, but I don't know if studying with an online Chinese school is a good way.

Is their usage different?

greeting respected officers!

What kinds of kids Chinese TV program or helpful free websites are available for kids to practice Chinese outside of class?

I would like to recommend my parents Chinese news sites...but im not sure what to recommend. They only go on singtao.com, but is the site of a popular newspaper here in San Francisco. Anything else worth while?