It is quite often not possible to relocate, even to an immigrant community.
It is also not necessary. You may be surprised to find that we in Europe also learn languages in a class (granted often taken for years, not semesters)[1]. This will certainly be sufficient for someone to get to a point where they can "hold their own". Interest in the language in form of self-study further enhances this, even if nothing compares to immersion.
As for studying without the luxury of immersion, vocabulary is the most important thing. You can make yourself understood with nouns and unconjugated verbs alone. Spice it up with a little basic grammar, and then start listening and reading. TV, movies, books, magazines, dictionary at hand.
[1] Europeans who speak English and German or Swedish do gain reading comprehension in a free bonus language: Dutch.
Based on years of experience with language learning and teaching, I'm tempted to say that European patterns don't generalize to North America. I never saw even one North American student gain anything resembling fluency by using these techniques. And I've seen hundreds flail. What I'm describing is how the people whom I've known to achieve fluency actually did it, where fluency is defined as being able to understand conversation between native speakers and hold one's own in it.
It's hard to exaggerate how far multilingualism is from the norm here. No doubt the reasons for this go far beyond individual effort or technique.
It is also not necessary. You may be surprised to find that we in Europe also learn languages in a class (granted often taken for years, not semesters)[1]. This will certainly be sufficient for someone to get to a point where they can "hold their own". Interest in the language in form of self-study further enhances this, even if nothing compares to immersion.
As for studying without the luxury of immersion, vocabulary is the most important thing. You can make yourself understood with nouns and unconjugated verbs alone. Spice it up with a little basic grammar, and then start listening and reading. TV, movies, books, magazines, dictionary at hand.
[1] Europeans who speak English and German or Swedish do gain reading comprehension in a free bonus language: Dutch.