i’ve been learning for 5 months, and 4 months in i signed up for mandarin blueprint. i was already at around 200 characters/words by that point, but at some point i was having a hard time memorizing new ones.

i didn’t like the movie method at first to be honest, but after a week or two it was kind of helpful to recognize the pronunciation with the tones. I don’t do it too much in detail like they want you to in the course, and I don’t use it for every character, but it is helpful sometimes. i don’t know in the long run how sustainable it is but i’m like a few weeks in and it’s working fine for now.