If you know of someone who came in your country, didn't speak a word of your native language, a few years later he or she speaks it perfectly with a proper grammar and pronunciation and knows how to read and write, just ask that person how they learned your native language and you will understand this article to full extent. By the way, this article was written by such person.
But regardless, the most important step is to approach it as a fun challenge and it will make the whole process a whole lot easier.
Nevertheless, here are the 3 main methods of learning a language, such as Spanish. Keep in mind which method you are or you intend to use, and don't mix them; but slowly transition into the other.
The Street Method
This method is practiced by almost every foreigner arriving in a different country. It's very basic and it can produce fast results. It's actually the easiest and quickest way of learning a language, which you can adopt for learning Spanish.
In this method of learning a language, grammar and pronunciation is not much focused on. Instead, the person learns a whole lot of words and phrases which he or she uses whenever the time is appropriate. Pronunciation and grammar will come when the person interacts more with the natives and starts to understand the language.
This method is referred to as street method because there's no schooling involved of any kind. But instead, the person picks up words and phrases from anywhere while memorizing them. When learning Spanish, this method would be easy when you live in a Spanish speaking country while being surround it by it 24/7. But in order to use this method when trying to learn Spanish in your native country, you need to apply a different system.
Use any Spanish language book, tutorial, online material, software, and literally learn and memorize as many words and phrases in as fastest time as possible. Learn the words and the meaning. Create a conversation in your head with the words that you have learned. Don't worry about the proper grammar and the proper pronunciation.
Then, try to find any Spanish speaking person (preferably native Spanish who also speaks your native language), and carry on a conversation with what you have already memorized. Pay attention to how the Spanish speaker corrects you and memorize those corrections.
This method is like collecting all the pieces of the language puzzle, which you will later learn how to put together.
Unfortunately, many people get stuck in this method and never advance their language skill. So, don't be one of them. Slowly transition into the next method to advance your Spanish.
Traditional (class) method
In this method, people first start learning the grammar (with some vocabulary) and build on it until the whole language is learned. This method is usually performed with a teacher who knows the language. This method is the most time-consuming of all the methods.
However, this method is time-consuming for beginners who are just starting with Spanish. If you already know a great number of Spanish words and phrases, and you have some understanding of the Spanish language, this method will simply teach you how to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
But, this method produces the biggest dissatisfaction. People who are involved in this method, while actually and unknowingly practicing the Street Method (explained above), are the people who have a hard time learning a language. There's a difference in expectations. This method at the beginning will teach you a whole lot of theory and a very little of vocabulary. So, you may get a feeling that you're not learning any Spanish if you're a beginner.
And to make it even worse, the teacher doesn't have to be an actual person. It can be Spanish language software or a language manual that you have purchased. When having a teacher, you can ask him or her when having questions. But, you can get very easily discouraged when not having who to ask if you do a self home study.
So, if you're a beginner to this method, readjust your expectations. You first have to learn the grammar and pronunciation, and then build the vocabulary. But, if that's not what you want, go back to the Street Method and forget about the pronunciation and grammar. Come back to this method later to learn the theory and to advance your Spanish.
Pattern method
This method is where people learn languages from a mathematical standpoint. They combine words and phrases as if combining numbers. This method will help you speak fluent Spanish in no time, if you learn to recognize the language pattern.
If you learn the pattern, you don't really have to know the whole language. You just have to know the vocabulary and use the pattern to put the sentences together.
For instance: Spanish has a phonemic stress system - stress is fixed, and different stress patterns of the same word can result in separate meanings for one and the same word. If you know the pattern of the stress system, you're literally done learning how to read. All you have to do is follow the pattern and you can read like a native Spanish ... well, almost. Maybe not at the beginning, but reading will certainly be no obstacle to you.
If you learn the conjugation pattern of the verbs ending in -ar, -er, and -ir, you'll know the conjugation for thousands of Spanish verbs. Also, if you learn the pattern of forming sentences (the order of words that form a sentence); you'll have no trouble speaking the language.
So, it's very important to keep in mind which method you are or you intend to use, and don't mix them; but perhaps slowly transition into the other for advancing your Spanish. To slowly transition into the other means not to get to the next method until you feel comfortable with the current method of learning Spanish.
The methods explained above don’t have to be followed in that order. You just have to know which method you are or you want to use and not to mix them. Each method will advance your Spanish when used as next level in your Spanish language study.