[Reesesjiejie]

If you can find somewhere to take a class, say once a week, it will help with your pronounciation LOADS. I've take 2-1/2 semesters (once a week) at a local community school for the arts. I may not understand everything, and I forget characters easily, but I can hold small, simple conversations (Hello, how are you? Good...can you help me find... and such). However, because of those classes, if you give me the genuine pinyin I can pronounce any Chinese word you give me. I also say LEARN MANDARIN! Learn it while you're waiting. If you get referral (with a child old enough to speak somewhat) from Guangdong or Guangxi provinces, go find yourself a cram guide to Cantonese. It is harder, but the toddlers and older infants from those provinces most likely haven't heard anything but Cantonese, because that's the conversational language there. I have a friend who brought home an almost 3 year old from Guangdong and he didn't understand a word of Mandarin. He was like, "what?".