learn language through real life experience not a $500 program

I checked out the Rosetta Stone after already being fluent in Spanish just out of curiosity. A friend of mine had bought it and I wish I knew earlier to talk him out of it. I guess my objection to paying for any Spanish lessons is this- Why pay to learn Spanish when we live in a country with millions of Spanish speakers, who in my experience are more than happy to help someone learn. When I wanted to learn Spanish I got a job at a Mexican restaurant. I brought my dictionary and what little memory I had of high school Spanish with me and just started trying. Mostly listening though. Listening to words that were always repeated and trying to look them up. Trying to repeat what I heard. Trying to get a feeling for the rhythm of the language. I started borrowing movies from my new amigos and between that and my part time job, I picked things up. Eventually this lead to invites to their house where I was served delicious meals and tequila that you can't find in the US.

From there, I went to Costa Rica for two weeks and stayed with a wonderful host family. And so on. The pleasure of learning a language comes from making connections with people. Forced immersion and a no fear approach is the best way. You will make mistakes. Lots of them. You'll probably even get laughed at, I know I did, but it was all in good fun. And at the end of the day I can say I went out and did it myself in the real world instead of being cooped up alone in my house with a computer and a microphone. All the education you need is out there in the real world.