I tried several times in various ways to learn languages, the only one that worked (I became and still am fluent in russian) for me was a combination of academi

I tried several times in various ways to learn languages, the only one that worked (I became and still am fluent in russian) for me was a combination of academic instruction and living in the target country. In my case this was eastern Ukraine. The academic instruction was crucial for me. No matter how much I listened, I was never going to really understand the difference between unidirectional and multidirectional verbs of motion until it was explained in a way I could really grok. On the other hand there is quite simply no replacement for hearing and speaking with native speakers of the target language. I taught quite a few English classes and there were often Ukrainian teachers who spoke English flawlessly, but for whatever reason students who only learned from non-native English speakers were at a clear disadvantage compared to those who also had native teachers, and everyone was at a disadvantage to those who had practiced in an English speaking country. I worked with tons of people who lived in eastern Ukraine for years and never learned Russian or Ukrainian beyond a few phrases, I really do think it takes dedicated instruction combined with tons of practice with native speakers to really make fluency happen.