A lot of folks are saying there is no substitute for complete immersion in a country that speaks the language. While it's true that immersion is a huge help, it

A lot of folks are saying there is no substitute for complete immersion in a country that speaks the language. While it's true that immersion is a huge help, it's not so difficult to simulate. I learned Italian in Italy, but now I'm learning Spanish outside of a Spanish speaking country. Here's what I'm doing to learn quickly: 1. Conversation exchange sites. You can find native speakers of the language you want to learn who want to learn your native language. Try to get enough language partners so you can do it a few times a week. People will cancel, so book more meetings than you'd like to achieve. 2. Films, TV, Radio, Youtube, etc. Don't use your native language for sub-titles. But do use sub-titles in your target language. Doing this will require a lot of faith at first because you'll understand almost nothing. Stick with it. It's no different than living in a foreign country where you'll also understand almost nothing at first. 3. Change your computer or phone or tablet so the OS uses your target language. 4. Play online games with people who speak that language. 5. Read some of your daily news in the the target language. 6. If you can't find local classes, you can find a teacher who will use Skype. 7. Think about things immersion would give you, and seek them out on the web: menus, street signs, store receipts, bills, product descriptions, adverts. 8. The other methods for learning a language have been mentioned elsewhere but I'll repeat them for completeness here. Duolingo (grammar), Memrise (vocab), Anki (vocab, ability to create your own flashcards) all of which are free. I like to supplement with a listening method like Pimsleur or Michel Thomas which are not free. If you follow all of the above, put in the hours, and continue to think creatively and seek out opportunities for simulating immersion, you can come pretty close.