The fastest way to learn Spanish is to have a native speaker sitting there with you for 5 or 6 hours a day tutoring you and helping you practice. Now, keep that in mind: what’s the closest we can get to that without actually doing it?
What if you could have a bunch of native speakers you could converse with in real time via a sort of “video conference” where you can not only hear them (like on the phone) but also see them? What if you spent a couple hours a day talking to them? Just how quickly do you think your Spanish would improve?
VERY quickly, right?
Well, the way you do this is to simply get a Skype account (which is free) and then get accounts (also free) on a bunch of online language exchange sites where people meet up to teach each other languages that the other one is interested in (e.g. a native Spanish speaker wanting to learn English and a native English speaker, like you, wanting to learn Spanish will find each other and begin corresponding and helping each other–it’s brilliant, isn’t it?) and talk, talk, talk.
Skype not only allows free telephone calls between Skype members (almost everyone on these language exchange sites will have a Skype account) but also has a ‘video’ option you can enable where the other person can see you as long as you have a webcam and vice versa–so if you both have webcams (most people do) then you can see AND talk to each other in real time! You can not only hear them but see their facial expressions and body language at the same time as they speak. This is immensely useful to picking up the language.
I would say that maybe 1 in every 5 people you message on these language exchange sites (just google “language exchange”–I recommend language-exchanges.org, I’ve had good luck with them) you will manage to get onto Skype and talking with you. This is actually really good: just message 20 people (it takes an hour or less) asking for them to talk to you, and you’ve got 4 or 5 people to talk to!
It’s simple stuff like this, not expensive language-learning programs like Rosetta Stone and such, that will get you to fluency. You MUST speak. Just do it:)