Dear Eric,
How delighted I'm to hear that you are planning to learn Chinese.As is known to all,Chinese is one of the most complex lanuages all over the world.If you want to do well in learning Chinese,you ought to take following steps.
First,you should learn to write the characters and speak them correctly.Then the more you listen,the greater progress you will make.Last but not the least,you should try to translate Chinese into English.
China has a long history.In your spare time,you can learn more about Chinese history and culture for the fact that backgrounds matter a lot in language learning.
I am looking forward to your good news.