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For two reasons:

First, SQLite has a niche that isn't going away anytime soon. As a trivial example, it's perfect for anki.

Second, the last thing you want is to have to become a DBA or a sysadmin, or pay for shared hosting, just to get started learning something. SQLite is available as a single command, which can be downloaded as a single binary on Linux, OSX, and Windows (unless it's already in your distro/repository/OS), and databases are just single files, with no maintenance other than (maybe) the occasional vacuum.

The downside is that, while SQLite is easy and intuitive (with great reference documentation) for anyone who already knows SQL, it probably doesn't have many intro books written for it.

If you want to learn (at your own pace) then your best bet is to get a syllabus from a school or schools (online or offline schools) and use them as a guide for your own self-education. I have had lot's of formal in-class schooling myself, and have found that the quality of the educational experience increases the more that independent study is involved. In fact, I've learned far more after I graduated (and had time to actually learn things in depth) than when I was in school.

For something like computer security (which I'm no expert at), you may want to choose an application suite and read the manual and experiment on your own (which can be a slow way of learning, but the very best way of learning); through trial and error, sweat and tedium. Also scour the Web for tutorials, RFCs, etc (don't search too hard though, sometimes there just isn't a lot of quality, detailed information out there, but that's the same with teachers).

For the tedious, boring things that are difficult to remember, use a memory program like Mnemosyne or Anki. Don't let anybody tell you that memorization is bullshit; it's just one part of the learning process. Of course you should understand what you memorize, but the point being; if you don't remember what you learned then there is no point in learning.

Unless you want to be a medical doctor then don't worry too much about a diploma; you've already got some professional experience, so just concentrate on learning. Diploma's are very over-rated in the computer field anyways (just ask anybody who graduated without getting a related job).

Find project you like or use and start contributing. Or ask them if they need any help.

Most of the big ones do have "help us here" pages, such as KDE:
http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute

And another KDE page for those just starting out:
http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Junior_Jobs

So either the OP needs those links, or he is looking for smaller projects to help with. Here, let me suggest some small-project tools that I use that could use the help:
Anki, flash card application: http://ichi2.net/anki/index.html
Zim, desktop wiki: http://zim-wiki.org/
Gmail Conversation View for Thunderbird: http://github.com/protz/GMail-Conversation-View/issues
Vimperator/Muttator: http://vimperator.org/
Redshift, change screen colour per time of day: http://jonls.dk/redshift/

In an inexact analogy, Kanji is an assembly language system with thousands of opcodes (~50,000); it's added to your tool-belt as you master the other 2 short alphabets.

The alphabets lacking Kanji are only about 50 symbols each. By the time you hit first grade and Kanjis begin to be instructed (at a pace of ONLY a few per year,) kids have already mastered these basic 100 symbols.

While it is true that Anime is as big a time sink as watching hour-long live action on Hulu, you can benefit from children's anime (like Fairy Tail and Mahoujin Guru Guru) and blind rerunning where you try to make out words and grammar patterns without relying on the subtitles. Speech in kid's shows is always clearer, and written signs have plenty of non-kanji writings.

You can look for an American language learning show called "Let's Learn Japanese" (Public television) on Youtube, try flashcards Anki (PC flashcard system) and play Slime Forest for fun recall speed of Kana and Kanjis.

Eventually you'll find too many vectors to tackle, from college grammar books (pick one with plenty of Hiragana learning on it), a small physical dictionaries, western alphabet-based translators offline or online.

At some point of your trying vectors in parallel and listening to the language, many symbols and expressions start to show patterns and meanings beyond "it's too complicated to explain this untranslatable greeting in chapter 1 but essential to expose you to it." Have fun!

Hey everybody,

thank you very much for your contributions. I really appreciate the time you spend to discuss that question.
Some clarification:

• My kids are 10 and go to the Catholic High Primary School in Singapore, Primary 4 level.
• They speak Chinese to their grand parents who don't speak English.
• What they are learning is "higher Chinese" (AFAIK a term not used outside the Singaporean educational system) that is supposed to put them on equal footing with native speakers on university level at end of Secondary 4.
• They learn Chinese since Kindergarten.

So we are beyond the stage of the first 500 chars -- and it is still a chore. Therefor I was asking.
Summing up responses so far (in no particular order):

• Flash cards (the physical thing)
• Rosetta Stone
• Anki
• Nciku
• Buzan
• Dating Chinese girls (I like that one)
• Mnemosyne
• Zon (the MMO to learn Chinese while playing) read a review
• Found some nice books: Fun with Chinese Characters
• iFlash for Mac (I wonder is there a Linux or OLPC version too)
• PinYin Info
• ByKi
• Zhong Wen (for unaware readers: that means Chinese in PinYin notation)
• WenLin Software
• SuperMemo (with a comparison to Anki and a store to buy Chinese content
• VeryPracticalChinese (found via this blog
• Skritter
• I found ChinesePod. Not sure what to make of it
• Lao Shi (Chinese for "Teacher") - OpenSource

Again, thx a lot! (and sorry for the caveman English -- don't get it? Read the comments)

James W. Heisig, a researcher at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan, has released an excellent set of books for memorizing Japanese Kanji, traditional Chinese Hanzi, and simplified Chinese Hanzi:

Remembering the Kanji:
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Vol-Complete-Characters/dp/0824831659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269118367&sr=8-1

Remembering the Traditional Hanzi:
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Traditional-Hanzi-Meaning-Characters/dp/0824833244/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_5

Remembering the Simplified Hanzi:
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Simplified-Hanzi-Meaning-Characters/dp/0824833236/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

While this technique focuses on memorizing the meaning of the characters (and how to write them yourself) and not so much on the readings of them, I've found it an absolutely invaluable technique for doing the former. I have an abysmal memory to the point that it's shocking, and yet using his techniques, I was able to easily memorize the meaning of about 400 characters and how to write them in a couple of weeks with only a couple of hours of dedication a day, which I was very impressed with. His technique is based on building up from simple radicals and employing visual memory to make everything stick in place, which basically means concocting an elaborate and often ridiculous story for each character to tie the correct radicals into their correct places. The story is usually so silly that it cannot be forgotten, which is, IMO, in where the trick lies. As your skill in recall develops, you can let go of the stories and move to natural recall.

Also, the use of timed memorization software is essential when we're talking about this amount of information. Here are two great free software packages for this that were largely based specifically at learning Japanese (and thus are quite suitable for other languages, especially Chinese):

Anki:
http://ichi2.net/anki

Mnemosyne:
http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/

(Personally, I prefer Mnemosyne a bit more, even though Anki has many more features, but this is because I'm making a set of cards to memorize all of Heisig's Kanji, traditional Hanzi, and simplified Hanzi, and I'm using HTML tables to store all the information. Mnemosyne preserves my HTML exactly, whereas Anki futzes with it and ruins the formatting.)

Yes, use flash cards, but not the dead tree type. Use anki. I use it to study Japanese, and I'm sure it's almost as good for Chinese.
http://ichi2.net/anki/

1) Go to http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php and get the free classes you want.

2) Study words using a free software like http://ichi2.net/anki/

3) Try to live as much as possible in the language studied. Listen to music in that language, TV shows, movies, etc.

4) Make friends on a website like http://lang-8.com/ where the goal is learn new languages. If you want to learn French, French people will correct you and speak with you over Skype and you do the same by helping them learn English.

Have fun!

I'm forty years old and taking first semester Chinese (Mandarin) at Harvard Extension. I'm doing well. But to get character recognition down I've had to resort to flashcards. And many repetitions of writing the characters (in proper stroke order) in order to memorize. I've only got about 250 - 300 characters down, but that's real progress. I'm actually reading my textbook in Chinese now, which - I admit - is a very limited set of characters. But still, pretty damn cool.

So, folks call them "flashcards". A more formal name for it is: Spaced Repetition. Also, if you dig flashcards try ANKI, a free GPL'd flashcard program for Win, Mac, and various 'NIXen (including Linux).

I'm using a similar piece of software to learn German. Anki is actively worked on and regularly updated by the author. You can even write your own plug-ins for it in Python, I believe.