Like a lot of us here, I'm trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. I've been casually doing apps for a while now (Duolingo sucks, HelloChinese seems better, language exchanges are fun but scary) but I recognize some serious limitations to my methods. My reading and typing is getting better, as is my listening, but I still suck at speaking and tones are still hard to remember sometimes. This seems directly related to my learning methods - lotsa reading and listening exercises mostly, not as much talking. If I want to actually be able to speak this language, I'm going to need some more varied education I think.
My first thought was to check the local community college - we have a large Chinese population here so the classes are probably good, but the scheduling doesn't work well with my boring adult 9-5. I do well in a classroom environment though. One-on-one tutoring might not be a bad option, but I'd prefer to go through the embarrassment of learning a new language as a group, you know?
Anyone else in the same boat? What do you use to learn?
I studied Chinese at a weekend day school that was normally to teach the language to kids of Chinese people living in the States. They had an adults class that was mostly older 白人 (I was in highschool, this was forever ago lol). It was pretty cool, and they hooked us up with free books on Chinese culture and history from the Chinese government. I definitely want to return to something similar when I have the time for it.