I have just started the journey as well. I only know a few sentences like "Hello, how are you, im fine, my name is, good morning, miss"... But I have enrolled for a Chinese course at my job (I work in a school for adults...). So I get it for 8 euros, employee discount haha.
It is 24 hours all together. And has a continuation course next year. But I believe I will learn the basics. And thats what I need. I am somewhat good at learning languages or at least I like to think so.
So after I get the basics. Things will probably become easier. But I do know that learning Chinese will be hard. Especially the intonation parts. Finnish is the worlds most boring language. We speak with a monotonic boring voice always. So that is something really hard for me.
I learnt Japanese basics by myself just watching Japanese drama series for a few years. Now I can understand the "every day language" on Japanese.
I can't find any Chinese series. I would have tried to same otherwise. I've looked for Chinese movies but those don't really feel so helpful. Only Chinese series I found was "Gondor Hero". That was an awesome series anyway. But the language used in it is nothing close to everyday Chinese...
Seems like learning the hard way is the only way
. But I have bought and gotten quite a few Chinese movies. So I can watch those again every now and then. And it will be worth it even if I learn one new word. Or notice something new related to the culture, customs etc.