If you know nothing about mandarin, I suggest you could consult from a teacher on this website. If you have certain foundation, I advise you might search some native speakers as your partners. You should take time to practice listening, speaking, reading, translating and writing. Learning a language is a tough job. It is very difficult to find a shortcut. However, you will improve yourself more quickly if you have talent, use right method and put effort on it.

Lots of material on the internet. I like the podcasts, like Chinese101.com & Chinesepod.com, also iMandarinpod.com, you can get free subscriptions so you can download a lot of free stuff and the lessons are very good.

As the proverb goes that practice makes perfect,keeping practicing is the most important.

ｏｋｅ　．． ｔｈａｎｋｓ　ａｌＬ

More and interact with others, there is more to see some of China's knowledge, listen to tapes