As a language, Chinese is largely monosyllabic and doesn’t have a fixed grammar, so learning it is really quite easy — easier than English.
If you only need everyday communication, about 3,000 common characters are usually enough.
The easiest way to learn Chinese is to spend time in Northeast China or Hebei, where people tend to talk a lot and Mandarin is relatively standard — after a month of daily conversation your spoken Chinese can improve a lot.
Learning in southern regions is generally harder: regional accents are stronger and people may be more reserved in casual conversation.
Of course, the easiest method is to pick a Chinese TV show on YouTube and repeatedly listen and repeat the dialogue.