"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding." Stephen Krashen word. i made several failed attempts at learning a second language before up and moving abroad. after a year, i'm still pretty bad at it, but i don't know if i'd /ever/ have made it this far if i didn't have to speak on a daily basis... although part of that assessment is based on me being lazy and bad with natural languages.

anki and similar are really useful, though, if you're studying a non-phonetic writing system.