If you understand 95% of words, you can start learning with authentic material and a dictionary. Of course, Chinese is a little hard (stroke order is harder th

If you understand 95% of words, you can start learning with authentic material and a dictionary. Of course, Chinese is a little hard (stroke order is harder than alphabetical, and you can't guess the meaning as easily like you can with a related language like German), but ... it's still a good way to go. Of course, almost every language teacher on the planet will recommend you start with common words and pattens (grammer, phrases, etc), then learn less common stuff. It's not a revelation.