Is anyone trying to learn Mandarin or Cantonese?
I'm trying to learn Mandarin so I can have conversations with the Chinese people (native Chinese speakers) I associate with. I thought it would help with the occasional language barrier... actually it's more often than occasional. I'm using a CD/Textbook package I got and another book for characters. I also found a Chinese school in my area that offeres Mandarin classes for native English speakers at $5-$10 a lesson... but that doesn't start until September.
Also, there's a Mandarin podcast (Chinesepod) which is pretty helpful.
Is anyone else doing something similar? If so, how is it going and what method of learning are you using?