I have only learned French (because it was required from 8th Grade on up in Canada) but I think that the most important thing that helps people in learning a foreign language is to be good at grammar (that is at noticing the patterns in the language). Evidently grammar is the most important thing to understand first. I also think that it's much easier to learn a new language when you are younger. And I agree with Zenduba that the best way to learn a new language is to immerse yourself in it all the time. Probably having a native speaker who is bilingual and who you could have long social conversations with about a wide variety of subjects would be the ideal situation for most people, since immersing yourself all the time may be too challenging all at once.
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