I have no idea of how you guys learn Chinese. The process of learning English for me is like this: to practice pronunciations (vowels and consonants), to build up my vocabulary (of course paying special attention to roots and affixes), and to learn the grammar.
I think the grammar of Chinese is simple, since there are no tense and voice changes in Chinese. As far as I know, what frustrates you in learning Chinese are the tones in speaking and the tens of thousands of Chinese characters.
When I was very young in primary school, I also had to be taught how to pronounce the tones the right way, because the tones in Southwest Mandarin, which my parents speak, is different from Mandarin. It really takes repetition and periodic practice to perfect your pronunciation.
However, because they are logograms, I think there are some tricks to help you to memorize more Chinese characters. For example, here is the evolving process of the character 山 (mountain):
If you are interested in these tricks, I would be glad to systematically share more with you in later posts. By the way, what do you think is the most difficult thing that hinders you from progressing further in learning Chinese? Maybe I can give you some specific advice that might help.
Original post: http://blog.josephjctang.com/2015-01/a-better-way-to-learn-chinese/