There's a problem with the idea of learning a language on my own. Language is the means by which people communicate. I can learn the symbols of a language easily enough and can absorb vocabulary. That's easy to do. (It's also easy to produce learning aids for this kind of study. The iTunes store is full of flash card apps.) There are plenty of dictionaries and phrasebooks. But the difference between this kind of learning and real communication is the difference between painting by numbers and drawing something only imagined in dreams. I can purchase the most expensive paints but I still won't be Monet. Likewise, I can learn a few hundred words in Mandarin but it won't help me order a drink in a restaurant in Taipei.
There are three problems I need to solve. The first is practice. This is less of a technical learning issue and more of a motivational issue. Learning takes practice: the simple, unending repetition of a thing until it's second nature. With a language like Chinese, the practice has include all three parts of the language learning – reading, writing, and speaking. Even in English, there are words I forget how to spell because I use them so infrequently. For learning a new language, the practice has to be frequent. I need to set aside time each day like I should for exercise. The second problem is speech. Speaking takes practice with another person – preferably a person who has more experience in the language than I do. I have a person with whom I can practice, but we don't do it enough. Speaking practice is very important. When you use what you know (successfully), your memory of it is enhanced.
The third problem is the one that's getting to me the most. The third problem is grammar. Chinese grammar is very different from English grammar. I can take a Chinese sentence and work out a translation of the characters.However, even knowing the meaning of the characters often doesn't help me understand the sentence. The inverse problem also exists. I have many words in my mental flashcard deck, but I'm not entirely sure how to string them together to make a coherent phrase or sentence.
Flashcards are useless for grammar. Phrasebooks also are not much help; half the time they don't really instruct you as to how or why a phrase is constructed as it is. I have a grammar textbook, but it's so technical and complicated that it's really more of a reference than something I can study.
The most successful educational tool I have right now is iChinese for the iPhone. This is a great app that is slowly introducing me to some sentences as I learn vocabulary. The frustration is that the app uses Simplified characters. I haven't been able to find an analogous application or study aid that uses the Traditional characters. So while I want to keep using this program, I am also becoming a little lost when confronted with the same vocabulary rendered in Traditional Chinese.
In 6 months, I'm getting married. My goal is to, by that time, have learned enough Chinese to successfully muddle through a conversation with my new wife's parents when we see them at the reception dinner. And maybe, just maybe, I'll also be able to deliver my vows in Chinese. To do these things, I'll need to find some solutions.