This is for my fellow native english speakers.

I have enrolled in Vietnamese 1 for the upcoming semester, and am trying to become prepared as I realize its going to be very difficult.

What tools or methods have you found most useful for learning Vietnamese?

So far I've been using Pimsleur's audio lessons, though in conversations with a Vietnamese friend I have found that I am not learning many words correctly. I have also spent some time working on Rosetta Stone.

At this point I plan on focusing on learning the alphabet, so that I can at least read it and have an idea of how to pronouce it, in order to start building my vocabulary to the point where I can have more then the most basic conversations with Vietnamese speakers. Then, hopefully my tones and pronounciation will follow.

Any advice from somebody who has already gone through the basics would be greatly appriciated.