Reddit reviews Chinese Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide

It's not as hard as it might seem- If you just start you'll notice that each character is just composed out of other characters; therefore the more you know; the easier you can learn vocabulary.

For example the character 啤, ("pi" -> "Alcohol") which is composed of 口 (="Mouth" on the left side; indicating the meaning - something to drink) and 卑 ("bi" on the right side; indicating pronounciation) -

There are plenty of good books;

This is the one I use

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I can't stress enough how great Chinese Demystified is! And basically the whole Demystiffied series is great. I found this to be one of the absolute best Chinese grammar books! I highly recommend it! Also try Basic Written Chinese which is a textbook, plus there is a workbook, which may or may not be needed, I'm not sure. There is also Basic Spoken Chinese as well which is the same.

For sure this textbook. There's several levels to it, and it also has traditional versions. I also have this. And this book us great to help with grammar, etc. As for online, the first textbook comes with an online website here for listening practice. Also, Duolingo is going to have Chinese soon I believe. I can't much help with online. You could try Livemocha. I really enjoy this program for the computer.

Around 16 months? I'm not so sure, however, Mandarin is a language where immersion for at least a year is key. So for that 16 months, plus some time in China or Taiwan you'll be fluent I'm sure!