How did you really learn a foreign language?
rsayers: I moved to Curacao.  Picked up papiamentu (local creole language), Spanish, and a little dutch (The official state langauge) pretty quick.That is hardly practical for most people though.  Take the classes, but supplement that learning.  Watch Spanish language films with and without subtitles.  Watch movies you already know very well dubbed in Spanish (I learned lots from that).Chat up people in Spanish speaking countries and attempt to speak Spanish as much as possible.  You might even find an English language student you can assist at the same time.If you go eat at a Mexican place, order in Spanish.  Yes, you will butcher it at first, yes you will feel silly.  But you improve quickly by doing this.Learning the way I did does have its drawbacks.  While I can more or less communicate effectively,  I know almost know grammar rules.  I can conjugate correctly, but have no idea "why" something is correct.