You have seven years to learn Putonghua

I liked the title  of the article, kind of thing (the title that is) that I would write. Putonghua is a Westernized rendition (Pinyin) of the Mandarin for Mandarin. Remember, Mandarin is the official language of the PROC. As for Cantonese and other dialects, fageddaabouit. I know Cantonese speakers who send their kids to class to learn proper Mandarin. I suspect Mandarin is easier to learn than Cantonese, because it has fewer tones. You’ll learn about tones soon enough.

Time to get started! Rosetta Stone gets high marks. Some introductory lessons websites include this site offering lessons as MP3 files, this site that includes a starter dictionary, lessons from the Peace Corps , About.com here and here , and from the Wikiversity .