If you already have experience programming (which you do) try the following: First read the wikipedia page on the language. Download a medium-sized open source

If you already have experience programming (which you do) try the following: First read the wikipedia page on the language. Download a medium-sized open source project, start at main() and try to understand what it does. Then, google for features/syntax you don't understand; read comments; have the api docs open; google for languages gotchas; google for techniques you don't understand. Once you do this enough to be comfortable with the language (Shouldn't take more than a few days), try to write something on your own. Either recreate what you already wrote or try to create something just outside what you feel is within your means. I tend to learn languages a lot faster and in a much more thorough fashion when I approach it this way. edit: this has nothing to do with java per se, but I find it is valuable to me when trying to pick up a new language.