What's the best way to start learning Chinese?

Hi, Helen, Glad to know you are interested in learining Chinese. Depending on your learning goal, you can whether start from some free online lessons or a private tutor. My advice is to start with a private tutor so you can get some help on what to learn and how, it shall be different from what you want to achieve. If you just want to get some ideas and learn some random phrases or sentences, you can go search online and start with some free lessons. If you do have a purpose or goal, it would be better to have a tutor so you can be guided to start properly. Once you get some ideas on what to learn, you can look for free resources purposefully rather than diving into a sea of free information and getting lost. Please let me know if you have further questions. Good luck, Sarrey