I'm motivated to learn Chinese, however, I don't really

Duolingo has no course yet? I'm sure you can find something on /int/ too.

Is Rosetta Stone still a thing? Or Pimsler?

There's a really good app on Android call Hello Chinese I recommend starting with, it'll help you with pronunciation too. That's a good first free step.

>>18517374
Duolingo doesn't have chinese/mandarin courses

>>18517382
I'll check this

>>18517388
Thanks!

>>18517302
Ok, here goes:
Download the Pimsleur Series (purchase if you have ethics, but if you do go to China, you'll abandon them quick enough).
Work the shit out of them, morning and review in evening.
Get the Colloquial Chinese book + CD or alternatively just download the PDF + MP3.
Learn the whole thing off by heart (great intro to the basics as well as survival Chinese).
Get the Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook and the pocket Oxford Chinese dictionary.
Learn the former off by heart, and learn how to use the latter by counting strokes and pinyin.
Download and install the Pleco bundle; purchase the Flashcard add-on, install some more of the free dictionaries and learn how to work its features, especially said flashcards.
Learn pinyin properly, and start recognising common characters. No need to learn to write just yet. (and no need to worry about the simplified/traditional business either)
Find a language exchange buddy on Chinese-forums or Tealit, and practice over Skype a few times a week.

Do this, and come back in 3-4 months when you're done with all that.

There are a good few good coursebooks and other resources depending on what you want to focus on/need help with, but this ought to get you started right of the bat.

>you're welcome

>>18517444
thanks you so much based anon I'm saving all this

>>18517781
you're welcome, and in case I forget, for future reference, make a note of the name "De Francis". his textbooks are the business, and so are his readers. they've been reprinted and there should be cheap reprints and secondhand ones around. the audio is on itunes or online for free. Yeah it's a bit old fashioned and not so sexy but it is far and away the most pedagogical series for learning Chinese you're likely to come across. so make a note of that for when you've finished the other stuff. There are plenty of Chinese grammars out there, most of which are on Libgen, so you can dip in and out of those too eventually.

>>18517794
how can I thank you anon

>>18517382
Rosetta Stone is entirely in the target language, so it's kinda hard to learn grammar and sentence structure from it. I'd only recommend it for romance languages, which it was originally designed for.