there are no good resources for learning Chinese... there are just "so-so" ones... Japanese won't help you anything with Chinese because the reading is different and the symbols are Simplified

this is probably better on the discussion page, but websites: mdbg.net yellowbridge.com chineseetymology.org chinese-forums.com skritter.com youtube - just search "learn chinese" apps: anki pleco amanda (iphone only) ktdict skritter podcasts: chinesepod popup chinese Your better bet is find a resource, and try it out. If it works for you, then it's good. If you're not sure of the quality, post your questions about it here, and someone will be able to tell you if they've used it before.

u could just try some simple things. Watching Chinese movies with English subtitle. u can search these webpages: 'http://chinesecio.com/'; and 'http://learning.chinese.cn/cn/';. they are all the webpages of CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE ONLINE. there are many lessons for beginners to learn chinese. Making some Chinese friends and u can turn them for help with any problems that u meet according to your lessons. I hope my answers can help u. :)

After leaning some basic grammar and characters, you can have talk with me. I know the differences of expressions between Chinese and English. You can learn the grammar and characters from the answers above. But without talking with Chinese native speakers you will never learn it well. Good luck

http://www.onlinechineselearning.com/resourse.html All the resources are free offers by Hanbridge Mandarin's teacher.