Well it’s been nearly 8 months since I last spoke on my progress learning a new language (in this case, Dutch).
Those Michel Thomas CDs really helped although it took me a while to get through most of them. The listening and speaking part is easy, I’ve just been lazy in “finding the time”.
But what has also really helped me is to try to watch everything on TV (English language programs) but with Dutch subtitles. Unfortunately, most DVDs do not contain them (they often have French, Spanish and German though) so the best way to find them is by downloading TV series that contain “Dutch subs” or “ondertitels”.
Anyway, this technique will work for all languages, not just Dutch. I find that by reading the subtitles and listening to what I obviously understand, I am able to pick up easily new vocabulary and in context too.
This is totally different to the way most people learn languages using subtitles. Usually, you have Americans or British watching the occasional foreign movie with English subtitles. But often, it is really difficult to clearly hear what is being spoken because it is spoken quickly, colloquially and often with slang. But listening to your own native language being spoken instead is very easy. Also, foreigners learning English also read subtitles in their own language. Clearly this works, but I think there are great advantages to my technique.
Also, you quickly assemble vocab for many commonly used phrases that are repeated over and over during the course of the movie or TV series which really helps to reinforce the learning. There is no rote learning or assembling wordlists required at all. And because 70% of any conversation is formed with the 1,000 most common words, you can quickly be well on your way to getting the gist of almost any conversation.
As I now live in The Netherlands, I can tell you that this has really helped. I advise you to combine it with Michel Thomas like I have. Sure, I can’t do the usual school routine of talking about my hobbies but I am capable of going shopping, asking for help etc. with reasonable confidence. Not bad considering I’ve never had a single formal Dutch lesson.