I need to learn chinese mandarin but don't have easy access to real in-person tutelage, because of my location.<p>Can anyone suggest a good method, place to start, be it DVD or online etc.
It's tonal, so speaking it correctly is quite hard for Western people. I'd say try and find someone. Without someone to talk to you'll have a very hard time pronouncing it correctly.<p>One of my friends tried <a href="http://www.livemocha.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.livemocha.com/</a> for a language and had a positive opinion of it.