Hi Ryan^^ since i am the self-study learner. i think i can response this question. tho i am not sure mine is effective way. so excuse my advice wouldn`t be great enough... i am learning Mandarin Chinese on radio, here in japan we have great programs. i only buy textbook and listen the radio. and important thing is to share what i have learned with native speakers. when i learn phrase or new vocabs, i make Question on this site and learning form Answers. it helps me to input or understand more deeply. about english... i am good at express then i became lazy to write or speak correctly and forget the proper way... it is not good. but i have good part by just having conversation too. i can use english daily by communicating with english. if we are not using them, its get rusty. i learn new phrases and vocabs from friends too. if it is only for interests, internet chat and communication help. but if it is serious learning, we sure need fine process, the boring process of practice learning step by step, every day, like how we learn to ride bicycle. this is all from me :)

hi ryan... :) I'm really happy to see that a lot of people participated and were so diligent enough to give their sincere replies. ^^, Personally speaking, learning a new language needs a lot of courage. The keys are patience, determination and a fair share of space in our brain... ^^, Even if you have to repeat saying, and looking for sentences a thousand times, Repetition will not matter... because at the end of the day its Substance will prevail... ^^

hello Ryan... how're u? hope all is well there... good, related to the question, I tell you that I am self taught on the whole, with all that really interests me to learn, inform me or to know more. Regarding English, the method I use right now is the one of learning alone with grammar books, practicing exercises, reading to add vocabulary, using a good dictionary or translator if it's necessary. In order to not make it so boring, I also choose to look for native speakers to practice with them in web sites like this that is very good. About the pronunciation, I listen a lot of music in English and I look at movies, paying attention to what they say, and treating to understand. Obviously, it is important to keep in mind that I've been studying english for three years and this is the first I am doing it alone, but to start learning the basics which are the more important, I needed for good teachers that taught me very much. And that it is my history, jeje.. I hope you have liked it...

well as far as japanese is concerned, you can try "human japanese". its a very useful software that has eeeeverything you need. Its very useful especially if you are english because its making comparisons all the time. Here is the trial version (i promise you, you will be more than just satisfied) http://www.download.com/Human-Japanese/3000-2279_4-10655700.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10792628 and as soon as you finish it, why not ordering the full staff.. It helped me a lot.. Hope you try it! Good luck!

self studying..hmm.. i read a lot of books, translations..watching movies and j-dramas, specially in nihongo. Sometimes, i study korean kasi i'm teaching english to koreans..hehehe, pero what i really want to be fluent is japanese, mahilig kasi ako sa anime.. anyway, nihongo is quite different in English yet quite alike, gets mo?! kasi ganito, ang japanese construction of words kasi, para ka lang nag aaral ng English, yung verb nga lang laging nasa huli.. but i really enjoyed studying japanese. One factor is i was employed to a japanese company last year. Nagamit ko talaga sya in some ways, specially pag may mga arguements kami ng mga japanese boss ko! ^_^ sometimes, we are debating for one whole day, and i'm using english-japanese phrases every now and then. So it really helped me to adopt their language more because of that, and i am so happy, feeling ko alien ako! hahaha, You should try to talk nihongo once in a while, kunwari yun ang English mo.. Bazta, ang nihongo parang english din yan in some ways, na parang hindi. You don't have to compare nihongo to english, alike. They don't have Future tenses instead they use the same present tense on verb... 3 things to remember: 1. READ, nihongo has it's own pattern.. 2. Explore and study.. 3. watch movies/dramas/ anime.. 4. Talk!! you have to implement what you have learned, diba?! hope it helps...mata atode! ki o tsukete..^_^