Agreed, listening is fundamental. By listening, grammar rules can be picked-up easily and "naturally", it helps to develop an ear for the language and absorb its structure, something that will be also useful when you'll try to speak the new language.
I liked how the previous poster highlighted the need for a concise grammar, focusing too much on grammar rules can be fatal and a huge time waster.
This was one of the mistakes i made while studying english, this and the on-off attitude, the lack of material and many other errors that now can be easy solved using the net. Things will go a lot differently with my 3rd language (japanese, that i'd like to use in the future to learn mandarin).
The main point that emerges from this great thread is basically that you must leverage the high amount of quality and cheap language-learning material that is now available.
Try everything, discard what doesn't work, and as soon as you have defined a plan stick to it.
I liked how the previous poster highlighted the need for a concise grammar, focusing too much on grammar rules can be fatal and a huge time waster. This was one of the mistakes i made while studying english, this and the on-off attitude, the lack of material and many other errors that now can be easy solved using the net. Things will go a lot differently with my 3rd language (japanese, that i'd like to use in the future to learn mandarin).
The main point that emerges from this great thread is basically that you must leverage the high amount of quality and cheap language-learning material that is now available. Try everything, discard what doesn't work, and as soon as you have defined a plan stick to it.