How to learn a foreign language very quickly?

There is no quick and easy way to learn a foreign language – it takes kids years to learn their first language(s), and they’re far better at it than adults.

Essentially, the best way to learn a second tongue is to put one’s self in a position where the language and your proficiency in it bears immediate consequences – such as your ability to feed yourself, etc… the simplest way to do this is to go and live in a country where the language is spoken.

Watching lots of foreign TV with English subs and vice versa really helped me along.

There are no short cuts. The best way is to live with native speakers of the language and forbid them to speak English.

You have to do some book learning in order to provide the skeleton of grammar, usage and idiom, under any circumstances.

(Speaking of language, “oral speaking” is redundant.)

And, welome to fluther.

Go to the country that speaks that language. Immersion is the best way to learn a language.

rosetta stone. The best learning language program you’ll ever come across.
http://www.rosettastone.com/

Livemocha is a website that you can join for free and I believe that you can speak with native speakers on it and with others learning the language. The website also has lessons that you complete and tests and quizzes over the material.

I’ve yet to meet a single person who has achieved any kind of meaningful proficiency in a foreign language through Rosetta Stone.

I think that speaks volumes about its efficacy.

Get a standard language textbook and spend 20 to 30 minutes a day, every day, reading and doing the exercises. You can supplement this with language tapes to get the pronunciation down.

@the100thmonkey is correct, there is no quick and easy way to do it. I have lived in several foreign countries and the best way for me to start learning the local language was to date a girl who doesn’t speak English.

I gave great answers to all those that advised things I found helpful in finding some fluency in China. Rosetta Stone is okay if it is a supplement to study…but speaking and listening are some of the best ways. Maybe you could tell us what language your studying?

By forgetting the idea of quick and easy.

It’s hard work. And it takes time.

But it’s worth it.