Learning a new language (gram. and behaviorism)

I tried learning Chinese and in the phonetics lesson you can memorize
the symbols. It also provides with the definition in English which relies on the grammar translation method. I think it is quite useful since I don't know Chinese and I have never seen a symbol before. Thus, as a new learner I need the definition so I start relating the symbol with a meaning. Overall the website makes you repeat on and on the symbols as a drill, and it actually appears and disappears so one can practice and see if we can remember next time the meaning. This is more a behavioristic approach to learning, something like stimuli and response, especially since the colors of the symbols and letters are different in every language. I don't think this is the best way to learn a language as a communicative tool, but rather a way to learn vocabulary or memorize as drills the way we are supposed to write the symbols correctly, which is fine if we only want to learn some writing.

http://www.chinese-tools.com