Try living in the country of the language you are trying to learn . It's the quickest way I know .

I was raised to talk spanish at home and English at school it was very hard but I am glad my parents push it. I would say if you really want to learn spanish stay in a spanish speaking country for a month. You will be forced to use the language every day which will stick with you alot faster then a program language.

I echo what pretty much everyone else said - there's really no substitute for immersion. I noticed in the comments that it sounds like immersion isn't really an option for you right now, though. Even just finding a native speaker to converse with every week or so, or auditing a community college class would help immensely.

In addition to finding a conversation buddy, it's helpful to find little ways to integrate the language you're learning into your daily life. For example: I used to read magazines in Spanish; read/watch news sites (BBC is translated into several languages); find a youtube channel in Spanish and make it a point to watch it regularly; do you have a hobby? Find books or youtube videos pertaining to your hobby in the language you're learning (I taught myself to follow crochet books/patterns in Spanish).

Some resources I have found helpful are:

• Get a good Spanish-English / English-Spanish dictionary.
• Wordreference.com includes dictionaries and forums.
• Textbooks - Go to a used bookstore and see if you can find any used Spanish textbooks (with CDs included, if possible), half.com is also a really good resource.
• Duolingo is good for learning to converse, but I struggle with it too, since it doesn't really explain the mechanics of the language.
• TinyCards app - This is basically a flashcard app created by Duolingo.
• Rosetta Stone - I honestly had the same problem with RS that I did with Duolingo when I tried to learn Brazilian Portuguese, although they did have more learning games and the content was more robust. It might be worth checking it out at the library to see if it works well for you.
• Clozemaster app - This app lets you practice translating sentences into different languages.
• Earwormslearning.com - They set language to music and use repetition to teach you conversation basics, there is also written information that comes with each cd that covers things like grammar and spelling.
• Books - If you're into reading, you can find Spanish translations of just about any books that you enjoy in English. Or, better yet, find a Spanish-speaking author you like.
• TV Shows - I used to know a Mexican couple who learned English by, no joke, watching 'I Love Lucy'. So, you could try watching some telenovelas, or see if you have a Spanish PBS channel.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I hope it helps! I would love to know if you come up with any other creative ideas or resources.

I moved here in 1981, from Brazil and immersion was the key. But listening to songs and reading the lyrics helped a lot...with that said a friend of mine brought her 60 years old mother to help with her baby...the lady only spoke Portuguese being alone with baby in the house most of the day she got hooked on General Hospital and voila 6 months later she could speak ( with a heavy accent) and understand English....so watch Spanish news their soap operas are gross but who knows !!!

Rosetta stone has a reputation... but Spanish is my native language. I congratulate you for learning a new language. In Europe everyone need to learn the language of all bordering neighbors plus english for being (commercial language). I was told the neighbors was in case of war. Makes sense to me. One of the reasons of the term "ugly american" in Europe is lack of knowledge of other languages. We refused to learn the metric system and looked like "we are not able to adapt to changes". I remember when French was the diplomatic language and and all diplomats needed to learn that language. Wonder if that is still the case. I understand a little portuguese, italian, french. All are "Romance Tongues".

What about trilingual or more? I have a mother tongue - malayalam, so it came naturally to me through my family. Then I was in north of India where hindi is spoken in general. So you can say I picked up hindi from the street. As for English, it's the only language I learned or rather trying to learn.

I am a native English speaker who is also fluent in German. I learned to speak German in a 2 step process. First I had 2 college level German courses to learn the structure of the language. Then I moved to Germany and cut off all contact with English speakers. Within two months I was fluent. The key is immersion in the language until you reach the point that you think in the language. When you reach that point, You have done it!

As an added step in the immersion process, I started reading a book written in German. As I read the book, I wrote down each unfamiliar word in a small notepad, looked up the word and wrote the English equivalent down in the notepad. That went on for about two weeks. From then on, I could read German texts easily without outside help.

Full immersion is the only way. I learned English by first attending classes that were only taught in English by native speakers. Then I moved to the States. Reading and watching everything with subtitles further helped me. You have to be in the position where you absolutely cannot fall back into the welcoming arms of your native language

It’s a tough language if u were not born with it. All u need is a few months in South America or Spain and you be all good.

You have to get out there and mingle with the natives...it's the best way to become truly fluent.