Best way to learn French..
..spend as much time as possible with native speakers and don't let them use English. If you live near a university you can probably get inside the language centre and find yourself lots of adverts from French students who want an hour's English conversation in exchange for an hour in French. Ideally, they then become friends and invite you over to France where their friends and family look down on using the English language in their country and you are forced to learn. The French are generally crap at English anyway (and vice versa, of course).

To get yourself off the ground, learn the basics one by one. First, get a good idea of how words should be pronounced, even if you don't know the meanings. This is so important - it gives words you are trying to understand a solid identity in your mind; and laying the ground for good pronunciation means you'll be understood in the future even if your grammar's weak - I've met university graduates in French who struggle in conversation because they can't pronounce their sentences right.
(lost, Sat 22 Nov 2008, 15:58, Reply)