I'm thinking about audio CDs and/or interactive learning on the PC. What language programs have you found to be the best? If you've learned Mandarin through one method, that's obviously a plus.
I'm not Chinese and neither are my parents. I live in Louisiana so there are not a lot of Chinese American immigrants around. Even if there were, it doesn't seem polite to just ask someone to teach me Chinese. If someone were to ask me to teach them English I'd feel uncomfortable doing that as well as underqualified. The T.V. and movies seem like good ideas. I'll have to check Netflix. No one's learned Mandarin from an audio and/or interactive program?

Get yourself a Mandarin speaking girlfriend

It's tough to learn Mandarin from a tape or artificial program. You really need to be sitting there with a Mandarin speaking person to listen carefully and repeatedly the pronunciation of the word, and to actually see their lips moving. The sounds are different than what the English speaking is accustomed to and it takes practice to re-tool your tongue to make those sounds.

if you are a chinese then your parents are likely to know mandarin...if not then go to a chinese school....no i havnet learn mandarin before...but i know cantonese...actually mandarin and cantonese is very similar...i cant speak mandarin but i understand it

u should talk to ppl that speak it and tell them to teach u and then u can talk to them in mandarin and u will learn, just talk to ppl that speak it, if u speak it more than u will learn it, like how u speak english at home or w/e language u speak, u talk to ur parents bro sis, in the langauge u speak and u know it

Rent or borrow Mandarin cartoons, movies, or tv shows with subtitles on the bottom. That was how i learned chinese when I was a kid. There are lots of chinese movies in chinatown libraries.

Rent a Chinese person? Really, man, good luck. I lived in a house full of people who spoke Mandarin to each other for an entire week and never picked up so much as how to say "yes" or "no."

try the chat program QQ (once you have learnt some Mandarin anyway) check it out at http://qq.bur.st/
You would also be able to talk to them in english, finding out more ways to learn chinese on your own.