I'm a big fan of Assimil, which uses bilingual texts. Many polyglots begin with this one. It's a 20 minutes per day course of 5-6 months to fluency. One man on the forum link below says he got a job in Germany as a translator of technical documents from English to German after using Assimil. If I had one source for learning a language, it's Assimil.
Michel Thomas is great for learning grammar. Very easy to follow and you're learning along with the other students. Pimsleur can be useful because it gives the student a chance to guess at what the sentence will be before a native speaks.
Squeeze in mp3s during free time.
Lingq.com offers free mp3s with translations for many languages.
There are some incredible people on this forum, probably the best source for language learners:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp
One of the things that holds people back the most is stressing too much about grammar. Just focus on speaking, allowing yourself to make mistakes, and the grammar can wait. Read and listen to the language a lot and grammar will start to just sink in. As you continue to immerse yourself in a language and really study the sentences, you will catch on to the minor grammar rules.
Also, don't spend too much time on beginner materials. One of the biggest rookie mistakes people make is being afraid to move on to the next level without absolutely mastering the beginner stuff.
Michel Thomas is great for learning grammar. Very easy to follow and you're learning along with the other students. Pimsleur can be useful because it gives the student a chance to guess at what the sentence will be before a native speaks.
Squeeze in mp3s during free time.
Lingq.com offers free mp3s with translations for many languages.
There are some incredible people on this forum, probably the best source for language learners:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp
One of the things that holds people back the most is stressing too much about grammar. Just focus on speaking, allowing yourself to make mistakes, and the grammar can wait. Read and listen to the language a lot and grammar will start to just sink in. As you continue to immerse yourself in a language and really study the sentences, you will catch on to the minor grammar rules.
Also, don't spend too much time on beginner materials. One of the biggest rookie mistakes people make is being afraid to move on to the next level without absolutely mastering the beginner stuff.