To a Mandarin-Chinese learner, learning traditional characters or simplified characters is a question.
Traditional characters are used commonly in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and most oversea communities.
Simplified characters are used officially on Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and growing oversea communities.
This idiom story 守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù) is a very famous Chinese folktale. This story tells a story that a farmer got a dead hare by accident while he worked on a field.
Mandarin-Chinese is a tonal language. Tones are more like music notes, which guide you on how to pronounce each character. In this sense, speaking Mandarin-Chinese is more like singing.
It sounds fun but might be confusing to English speakers who are never exposed to tonal languages. However, if you know the trick, you will find it is not difficult at all.
To English speakers, Mandarin-Chinese has a fame of being one of the most difficult languages to learn.
Back to many years ago, this statement might be true. However, it is is not the case any more.