Hi Corbin, I hope you're enjoying learning Mandarin so far! To answer your question, 我開始學习普通話 "了" and 我開始學普通話"了" will be correct way to say it. That's the most hardcore present perfect in Mandarin and you can see it's not hard at all! In case you want to add a specific time, you have to put adverbs of time before the verb. (我去年開始學普通話了) *學习 is not wrong but it sounds a bit clinical in this case. Have fun!

Thanks for all the replies. Gave me a challenge figuring out what everyone said :-) I'm starting to recognize some of the characters! which is a good feeling. I noticed that a couple of you used 学习 together, would it be more correct for me to say: 我開始學习普通話 than just: 我開始學普通話? @850309lili - I have been mostly studying simplified, but I have also been studying zhuyin and using this for input: http://www.i2bopomo.com/

i want to improve my English communication skill. now,i am prepare for the graduate examination.i can help you to study chinese.i hope we can become friends.

写的很好！！ keep going .... if u need any help i'll be right here in italk OR here is my SKYPE ID :uyghurboy42688 祝你好运...

加我SKYPE: chin.world.chinese.training 可以一起学习普通话 learn Mandarin together 遇見你我也很高兴 - Very nice to meet you too