I recently visited China with a bilingual native from Fuzhou. It was a short notice invitation, but I could not turn down the opportunity! However, I could not speak but 3 words in Chinese; Hello, Thank You, and A Little Bit (for some reason). Even with the language barrier, I was able to connect with other human beings and before I knew it, I had lots of new friends. We communicated by mostly gesturing, and when that didn't work, sending messages to each other on WeChat while standing next to each other and using the translator if my friend was not around. I loved China (at least, Fuzhou and Xiamen) so much and the people were awesome. I want to return soon and it would be nice to be able to actually talk! I've been learning via podcast and YouTube for this past month since I returned. Some friends in China also help to correct me when I try to say something to them. I'm here because I want to learn as quickly as possible and it looks like it may be a good method.