[james_s_tayler]

I pretty much did this with Japanese but there are a few caveats. Namely informal grammar study as fast as possible and learn to read quick as you can are also massive, massive boosters.

Of all the language learning methods I've seen I've only seen one thing consistent across all of them that in the end leads to results and that is you have to legitimately feel that it's deeply important to your life story to actually learn it to fluency. At some level you actually just have to care about the outcome. It's an emotional switch that once flipped, actually the method is irrelevant. I've seen every which way work. The constant was that it mattered to those people. And no one knows how to turn that switch on/off. Therefore I agree with the sentiment no one knows how to do it. I guess I'd be more specific and say that no one knows a fool proof method to engineer the outcome because it relies on emotional states and belief systems. As for the intellectual understanding of how to execute against learning a language. Plenty of seasoned language learners know full well what works and what doesn't.

[WheelsAtLarge]

Excellent point, caring at the deepest level will make any method work. But a system that pushes you along will help. The goal is to be fluent in a language but it's easier if you get pushed towards your goal by circumstances rather than actively having to push yourself.

Example, you can read and practice a conversation by yourself and learn, something that gets harder as time passes, but if you have no choice but to communicate with someone then you will do it even if you don't feel like it.

[james_s_tayler]

The caring is the push. The caring is the pull. The caring is the forward momentum.

So many people I know lived in Japan 5 years and can barely speak it. Some are even wholly dependant on their wife to manage all their affairs because they can't function in society.

I never set foot in Japan before I was fluent because I moved to the city where all the exchange students came to learn English and I did nothing but hang out and speak Japanese with them.

I know what you mean. Methods can make or break your success in a way. But the method isn't the reason for it. It's the conduit. I remember when I first started learning I went to the bookstore and got one of those shitty teach yourself Japanese phrase books. I got 1/3 the way through then I got stuck on this page and I just couldn't get it. I couldnt get how to count some stuff and I couldn't move on until I got it. I threw the book in the trash but not my dream. I went in search of another way to learn it. I came across many obstacles and the caring led me to always search for another way.

Today the last of the caring is ebbing out of me after 10 long, fun years. And with it is going my skills.