Think - four months ago you knew nothing. Now, you can communicate simple thoughts and ideas clearly. Perhaps you should consider finding an exchange partner or tutor.

:)

Don't spend too much time prepping and staging and trying to find the perfect method and materials. Just pick something and go for it! You'll learn what works best for you over time and can then adjust accordingly.

Do what you enjoy ^^

http://www.howtolanguages.com/uncategorized/crafting-the-perfect-language-lesson-for-you/

You don't have to live in a country to learn it fluently ^^

It's important to be consistent, passionate, practice regularly, and get as much input as possible.

Instead of following a dry curriculum based on university students and travelers (unless this is what you want), learn vocabulary based off of a) frequency and b) relevancy to you personally.

Why learn words for every kind of fruit under the sun when you'll rarely need to use them? Instead, prioritize. If you like ice hockey, for instance, learn words that relate to this since you are more likely to discuss the sports you enjoy in casual conversation than durians.

A little bit each day will go a long way. It's better to build up a habit with 15 minutes of practice each and every day than to study once a week or so during several hour-long cram sessions.

You need to have motivation (drive) and a goal in mind.

Fluency is a journey and not an end all. Focus on and enjoy the process of improving and the progress you've made and will continue to make. You will spend a lifetime learning a language - even your own. 

Chinese has two advantages : 1 normal words are not so many.   2 A little grammar

As for me ,when I was 12 I don't find any difficulty in reading any books in China.I mean 90% common books,newspapers,history,science etc,even if I only get tiny percentage of the "whole" Chinese words,but It's absolutly ok for me to understand everything in reading/speaking/listening.

So the point is you should take more attention remember each Chinese word, if you find some problem in phase or native uses like 成语，don't be afraid(as for me,many 成语I can not tell exact correct meaning).I think maybe I only have thousands of Chinese words that I surely know,after that,you can find it much easier to understand many many phases or native uses.

Chinese I believe, we don't have so much grammar,(the teacher taught us few grammar,we just read the books in school,,and homework is writing each alien word repeatedly from the book)as for me,I think one grammar we always use is: somebody do something. So we don't like English which has like this: somebody do something which is from somewhere doing something,doing something..or here comes the bus..

an example about Chinese grammar:  like 我今天在小明家吃饭很开心。  我今天很开心在小明家吃饭。 我很开心在小明家吃饭今天。 今天我在小明家吃饭很开心。。。。。。。。so the best native way is the first,but another three is also ok in speaking,we always did and don't find it any grammar- problem.   sometimes I use the last one,haha

A little advise: you can find the Chinese native formal books for primary school students or middle school students. between 12-15years old students. to remember the alien word,, pay more attention in each word,recite them, you would soon find not much alien thing in reading.

Try your best,and i will help you.haha .Remeamber to add me in weixin,Rocio.And maybe chat with you tomorrow morning( and afternoon or night in you city)

Good night.

I'm learning English now and I am proficient in Chinese. We can help each other.