I want to learn Chinese, Mandarin. Is there a good method to speed up and improve my learning ability?

One of the most comprehensive website: http://www.chinese-tools.com
You've got all you need, from very beginners to expert.

- Online audio courses for beginners ( http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese )
- Chinese English dictionary, with examples and calligraphy ( http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/dictionary.html )
- Chinese characters writing method ( http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/characters )
And many more...

But top of the top, a Chinese language exchange club:
http://www.chinese-tools.com/club

Enjoy!

U can try listen to Mandarin songs..to get you familiar with the sounds and it's fun..i've been on this method..although i can't really speak/talk in Mandarin fluently, i've learn some words and can recognise and also write the symbols..of course u need to attend classes or someone to teach u so that u can learn it in the right way and can correct you when u wrong..mandarin is hard because of the sounds..one different sound can cause u saying a totally different word.

I can recommend you some good artists who sing in Mandarin..I listen to JAY CHOU(Zhou Jie Lun) and JOLIN TSAI(Cai Yi Lin)..both are from Taiwan..there are also Lee-Hom & Stephanie Sun..their musics very good...when u listen to their songs, u can get the lyrics from the website such as www.jaychoustudio.com (for Jay Chou songs)...the lyrics will give u the Chinese writing, the PIN-YIN and also the meaning of the songs in English..

good luck in your Mandarin-learning.. :o)

Jia You!!

without a doubt, the best way to learn chinese is to get a few chinese speaking friends. or move to china like i did. when i have a question sometimes i check out some different online forums. one i like overall is nciku.

their forum is here. http://www.nciku.com/BBSList.php

hope that helped

Take online audio courses?

Listen to chinese from movies to help get used to it.