I’ve tried the academic method and the girlfriend method, and I have to tell you the girlfriend (or boyfriend) method is what works, in weeks not years. I should emphasize though, that the romantic friend should not know English. Yes, it’s painful to let go of your comfort zone, with all its assumptions and untranslatable linguistic identifiers that you rely on to make sense of the world, but if you don’t you can forget really learning the new language.

A language is song and dance, not math. Grammar and vocabulary study is a rabbit hole that leads nowhere. Your challenge is not simply to acquire the means to communicate, it’s to learn and to incorporate a new vision of the world and, in the end, of yourself. The poetry and vision of existence that each culture holds is ephemeral in spite of being expressed so openly.

Read in the language, listen to its music, make friendships, make mistakes, listen, observe, above all respect and enjoy. Don’t make it an onerous task done by the mind.