How did you really learn a foreign language?
JimmyL: Practice. Do some learning, and then practice again.You're already at a disadvantage since you're not seven years old (five to seven is the best age to learn a language, according to linguists), so you're gonna need to make up some ground. Aside from picking a learning program to pick up vocabulary, you need to practice, and do it in as many ways as you can.Some suggestions I/friends have used:Mass Media. Start buying a Spanish-language newspaper and reading articles (specifically, articles that you don't know what they're about) with a dictionary in hand. The first few you do will take an hour each for a two-line article. But as you do this for longer times, you'll start to pick up words - and (mainstream, well-regarded) newspapers are great because they've generally got very clear writing. When you get confident, start trying to read the letters or editorials. You should also dedicate an hour of the day to watching news or a soap opera on Univision (doesn't matter if you don't understand it at first - pay attention and you'll pick it up), and pick up a Spanish radio station to start listening to.Computers. Set your OS's language to Spanish, and set Spanish as the preferred language of your browser (so it will request es pages before en ones). When you don't understand a web page, get out the dictionary and work through it. Try and limit yourself to Spanish sites as much as possible, and (most importantly) read all your online news in Spanish.People. If you can find some people to speak to in Spanish on a daily basis, do this. To complement this, find a local cafe/restaurant that has acceptable food and Spanish-speaking staff, and become a regular there. Practice at home, and then go there an order in Spanish. Do this a lot (hence the OK food). After you're feeling OK about this, go to this place at off-hours, order something (in Spanish, of course) and try to make some small talk. These people should be familiar with you by this point, and be amenable to talking to a customer (since they don't have anything else to do). At first, they'll likely respond to your broken Spanish in English - either respond back only Spanish, or ask them to speak Spanish to you directly. They see this as being nice and helpful; they're not trying to insult your skills, and will likely accommodate you if you ask (and they recognize you).