How to efficiently learn chinese characters?

Question

Taking first quarter chinese.

Answer 1

Pratice. Get a dictionary that shows stroke order and follow it.
Also check out following sites:
http://www.yellowbridge.com/language/ - has a great flash card program, as well as other things that help such as a radical list. (also check out the rest of yellowbridge, as there are some cool things on there, such as a online store that you can get Chinese movies and such.)
http://www.mandarintools.com - great dictionary, as well as some good links.
if you have a palm pilot or pocket pc, go to
http://www.pleco.com - in version two (soon to be released) they will have a stroke order chart, but even now, the dictionary is awsome!

Answer 2

by the three Ps: Practice, practice and Practice

Don't waste your time analysing the characters. That's only if you want to know the background of a specific character. Chinese kids also don't ask, sometimes the teacher tells them. It takes too long if you have 6 years to learn 10,000 characters.

I found the following method quite useful:

I cut some small cardboard pieces maybe the size of 3 cm x 3 cm. On one side I wrote the character, and on the reverse I wrote the pronounciation and some of the meanings. Wherever I went, I took a bunch along: you can learn in the bus, on the train and also at home.

Then: the best method is love: a "chang mao ze dian" (long hair dictionary) is the best method: if you love China, a love affair with a Chinese person always helps you staying motivated!!!

Wo ai ni will then be your first words:我爱你

Answer 3

Learn the radicals. Many words have an element that is a phonetic and/or a meaning. The character for forest is the character showing 2 tree characters.

Answer 4

Buy a lot of paper.

Why? So you can rewrite the characters over and over again.
The best way to memorize something is to write it, read it, and use it as much as possible.

Answer 5

get yourself a great teacher
speak more often
practise the chinese writings