Let me tell you about the best book in the world for learning language: http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Learners/dp/0916636003 http:/

Let me tell you about the best book in the world for learning language: http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Learners/dp/0916636003 http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Le... Language Acquisition Made Practical by Brewster & Brewster It's from the 70s and way out of print. It's written by these two Christian missionaries who went to many countries where no one could speak their language, and they developed a framework for 'barefoot language learning'. It's excellent way to design your own course. It boils down to find a language partner, and then follow the methods in this book. I became frustrated with the way a lot of language courses are structured. They are so damn boring and suck the fun of discovery out of the language learning process. From the reading I have done on language acquisition, language classes should more closely mimic how children learn a language naturally. LAMP gets you closer to this model. Also, this book is an excellent tool: http://www.lexicarry.com/ http://www.lexicarry.com/ There's nothing but a bunch of pictures in the book, describing different nouns, verbs, and adjectives...all with NO English. You can use this with a conversation partner to learn many many useful words in a more organic way than memorizing a list of vocabulary with their english translation counterparts. Also, basically what everyone has said thus far. You need to live in the culture, and more than anything, make friends who will speak the language with you.