I am from China and currently doing my Ph.D. in US. Assisting my wife in teaching Chinese gives me a lot of fun and makes me love my home language and culture even more. Actually, mastering the daily use Chinese (Mandarin) is just easy, not like you are going for a Ph.D., right? :) It just requires some dedication to practice. Wish you all good luck!
You are more than welcome to point out my mistake in English, and I will be so happy to learn from you guys, too:)