People often ask me for suggestions about how to learn English. Everyone's different, of course, but I thought I'd share some of my experiences. I once took one semester of second-year English in Peking University, but I mostly learned English on my own.
One thing I can tell is, once you've started learning, you should try to think in English as much as you can. When you're riding your bike, or walking down the street, just think about "how would I say them in English?" At first, it will be with simple words or phrases, but later you should be thinking about bigger phrases and sentences. Now when I'm in America, for the most time, I just think in English, and speak directly. It's amazing how much this helps.
For several years after I started learning, I was often afraid of trying to speak English with others because I didn't want to make mistakes. Finally I got over it. And while traveling in America, I'd try to hang out with friends who spoke no Chinese, so I'd have no choice but to use English. And I decided that if I said something stupid and other people laughed, I would take it easy and wouldn't worry about it. My English started improving more quickly after that.
It may be a good idea to ask any of your American friends to look at the way you're writing the characters, and give some suggestions for improvement.
