Before we get into the actual process of learning a language, I want to make sure we establish what factors will determine how efficiently someone will learn. There are certain soft "requirements" for learning a language. They may not be entirely necessary for learning the language but they are necessary if you want it to be a smooth process where you improve relatively quickly. If you have what is needed learning a language can almost feel effortless. These apply to those who are self-studying as well as those who are enrolled in a class.
It doesn't take genius or certain aptitude of capabilities to learn a second language. There are those who have fantastic short-term memories which makes it a whole lot easier, but most of us do not have such photographic memories. Some people will insist that it takes 3 or 5 or 10 years to learn certain languages. This is simply not true. It shouldn't take you years to learn if you have a few hours a day to study and come in with the right attitude.
So how does one speed up the process? What is holding most people back? Here is a list of things that will turn a grueling struggle into an exploration that is fun and natural. At first glance some of these things are self explanitory but I will share WHY they are so important and talk a little bit about how to achieve them.
First of all what you DON'T need:
...to be "GOOD" at learning languages
...to spend lots of money for special programs or classes
...to spend years of hard work
...to wait until you can speak well to start speaking
...to be in a country where the language is spoken
...to have the perfect book or teacher
So what does it take to really learn a second language?
Confidence
If you think that you can't learn another language, you WILL NOT learn another language. It is almost a prerequisite to believe that it is possible, and it IS possible. If you don't believe that you can do it, you aren't going to feel the same motivation to study, you aren't going to be able to open your mouth to practice and you are going to be fighting against yourself every single step of the way.
If it helps, remember my story, school didn't help me but once I changed how I thought about languages and became interested and condifent I managed to learn quite well. Don't be shy about making mistakes! It's natural and NO ONE will hold it against you, and in the rare situation that someone makes fun of you, just remember this: they are an idiot. People will actually think your mistakes are cute and want to talk to you more because you are trying which will give you more opportunities to practice!
Motivation
This is another prerequisite for learning a language, perhaps the most important. It's a very easy predictor as to whether or not a student will actually because fluent at the language or just dabble for a few months or years before giving up. The more motivated you are, the more you will be able to concentrate on the language, the more fun you'll have studying and the more fun studying is the faster you learn.
You are going to have to stay motivated over the course of months in order to learn all those words. You are going to want to spend a few hours a day studying, or AT LEAST a few hours aweek. How does one motivate themselves? We'll talk about that in a second.
Concentration
Concentration is a natural byproduct of motivation and will. It was hard for me to concentrate because I always have so many things I want to focus on in my life. I found that finding certain things that you like about the culture and making friends helps with both motivation and concentration.
Look for films, music, books, comics, and social media in the lanuguage. You can change your settings on programs to that language in order to force yourself to learn vocabulary. Make studying part of your routine, put it above everything else if you'd like. Go online and search for friends from that country. I went online to find 3 different language exchange partners and 2 study groups in order to keep myself focused on studying Japanese while I was still in America.
Time
Don't just assume that if you are busy you won't be able to make the time for learning. You can learn a language with only 10 minutes a day. It'll just take longer. Ideally you will have 1-3 hours a day on average although studying 2-3 days a week is sufficient to learning a language in a relatively short period of time.
Find a way to manage your time. When I started working I would write vocabulary lists or phrase lists on index cards during my free time at work and then check those index cards throughout the day, testing myself everywhere I went. I would use half of my lunch break to study. I got a pdf version of my textbook and read and re-read dialogues during my commute.
Study Methods
I will go into this in future posts, but study methods are where many people slip up. There are so many ways to study but very few ways to study efficiently. Sometimes the simplest methods work the best. You can tell that someone used insuffiecnt study methods when they tell you it ook them 10 years to learn. The school systems don't usually help with this in most cases, at least not in America or Asia.
What I can say for now is that you need to practice everything that you study and if you don't you will have to relearn it all again at a later date.
Environment
This is not what you may think. It is not entirely neccesary to be in the country of the language you want to speak. It helps, for sure, but it is not required. Even if you manage to go to that country, it doesn't mean you will be in the right environment to learn.
The environment is essentially about how you live your life. Immersion is something you can create. Do you live your life in a way to maximize your use of the language? There will be a future post that goes into depth about how to create immersion for yourself.
One more thing...
Aside from all these attributes that will help you learn a language more efficiently, it is also incredibly useful to change the way you think about learning and the way you think about languages. That is one of the things I aim to help you do with this series. Framing can change everything. By changing the way you think about language and learning you can get out of your own way and maximize your potential for becoming fluent at your language of choice.
Feel free to share your progress or to contact me on discord 
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