Having now been here for almost 6 months and coming to the end of my stay, I'm going to outline the 6 best ways to manage learning a foreign language whilst living in a foreign country (in my opinion, of course) and to do it without going mental and whilst at the same time having something to take back with you:
p.s. delete/insert other languages as appropriate
1) Try not to find English speakers. What i mean by that is do not deliberately be on the look out for that sort of home comfort. What I do not mean is ignore brits/americans when you chance across them. You need to find a balance but more importantly you need to...
2) Surround yourself with spanish speaking friends. It might seem trivial, and sometimes you might not even say anything - but ALL the time your brain is getting used to spanish sounds and words, ebbs and flows to the sentences and most importantly random pieces of vocab. Girlfriend/boyfriend? Even better. I am of the opinion (just like most things), that you could study and study for many years and be able to write the perfect essay or letter, but without interaction and practice you will struggle. At the end of the day, you don't want to end up like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd0tTl0nxU0
3) Do something during the day. It could be work, it could be study, it could even be volunteering. As long as you have a routine you have one less thing to worry about, your mind can relax and focus on what you are here to do - learn a foreign language, surely one of the top things on any given person's 'life list'
4) Put yourself out there. What you should not do is when you get home spend all evening on skype to friends and family back home (although obviously don't neglect that either). If its home comforts you're looking for, try and translate whatever you did back home to where you are now, whether thats sports, art, music, dance - whatever it is, they have it here too! That's the best way to get to grips with a new culture - do things your way, then do things their way, notice the difference and get used to it. All the while you'll be meeting new people and the language will be slowly but surely making its way into everything you do.
5) If you're working, get a teacher. In the last month or so I recruited a teacher to come and help me out with ironing out some grammar points during my lunch break. The thing is, unless you're going to spend more than, say, 18 months wherever you are (and having started with good knowledge), you're never going to be perfect. The sooner you realise that, the sooner you can try and be as best as you can. Personally, my teacher is excellent and has helped a lot - and I'll now go back to the UK in a better position than I would have been.
6) Do not despair! It's last but by no means least. At the beginning, things are tough. I'd studied spanish for about 4 or 5 years before coming, and naively thought it would be easy - its not. You have to plug away, keep your head up, and believe that even if it doesn't look like things are getting any easier that they will in the end. Languages are a natural human resource and your brain knows what its doing even if you do not realise, so let it take it's course and remember that everyone has been where you have before.
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