I have always wanted to learn Chinese. Maybe it’s because half of the world’s population speaks a form of Chinese, but it has always interested me. I found a wikibook called Chinese (Mandarin) that has 9 lessons on learning Mandarin Chinese (a traditional Chinese dialect). There are also alot of other great books at WikiBooks. Check it out and post here what you find in the comments.
You can download free daily podcasts here:
http://www.ChinesePod.com