yup, i agree. meron akong nakuhang euroasia free source software for mandarin. it has the radical characters and some 500 frequently used ones. ok sya, nga [textspeak!] it doesn't have sounds. but if you get basic 5 tones for mandarin, i think mas madali na. it teaches stroke orders too so you can learn how to actually write the character. me kasi i'm more on the reading and understanding the characters, kasi ang goal ko is to be able to read all jin yong books! 1 lang ang may english translation! waaah!
i'm studying it now side by side: euroasia ZDT for characters and meanings; and rosetta stone for pronunciation and meanings.
meron ding books sa powerbooks [textspeak!] 250 most important chinese words 2 volumes but 1k+ ang isa, so expensive! hehe... kurips kasi ako ngayon eh. hehe
as for the others inquiring where i bought the rosetta stone level 1 & 2 packs, i'll IM you na lang. note: i don't sell ha hehe... but if you want i could buy 1 for you tapos ship ko nalang heheh...