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I have tried to learn Spanish ten times over 20 years and quit every time. I finally broke through that first difficult stage, have no desire to quit, and I am learning more every day. You need to speak Spanish. There is no way around it. Stuff the excuses and make a plan. I have tried many techniques and would like to give my opinion on what worked for me and what didn't. If you are a smart guy, but have a busy life and find maintaining motivation difficult then my tips may help you. This is how I made it an everyday part of my life. This is how I learned several hundred words and how to express what I want and need- but not by memorizing phrases. I can now speak a little Spanish- but by that I mean I can actually speak a little, as in express original thoughts and ideas (roughly). Once you get to this point the frustration vanishes. If you can make it to here you can go as far as you want. I am not claiming to speak Spanish well, nor have any experience in teaching. This is just how I managed to break through that first level without quitting (finally).
Step 1- remove all music sources from your car. All of them. CDs, satellite, antennas, everything. This step is critical if you're anything like me.
Step 2- Get a fun and engaging set of audio discs and put them in your car. They don't have to be particularly good, but they do have to interesting. I like Spanish in 10 Minutes per Day. The narrators are excellent and it isn't "immersion" style, so it won't overwhelm you. There are several lessons on each disc, and yes- they are roughly ten minutes long. I have also tried Behind the Wheel Spanish, Spanish for Dummies, and a couple of other audio sets. They are all OK, but Spanish in 10 MInutes per Day was superior for my purposes. Get the one you find amusing, not the one that will teach you the most Spanish. The tourist Spanish on these discs is not your goal, so it doesn't matter where these discs lead- they are only to increase your curiosity, provide a little vocabulary, and most of all get you in a routine that includes learning and practicing Spanish every day.
Step 3- After a month of CDs in the car you will start getting frustrated because you will be able to repeat a lot, but that's about it. That isn't bad frustration, that is good frustration. You are longing for a more comprehensive Spanish course and starting to feel held back by the tapes... good! Now get Rosetta Stone levels 1-5 all t once for about 700 bucks. Just do it. I know, 700 bucks, right? Do it. If you need to speak to a live person to practice, it has that. If you need to see pictures and build vocabulary, it has that. Need to learn the basic syllables that lead to better pronunciation? It has that, too. It isn't perfect, but it is pretty damn good. Start with an hour per night on Roseatta Stone. The program will only ask you to speak about 10% of the time. That's BS. Repeat everything they say, every time, and speak while you type written answers, as well. Speak Spanish, speak Spanish, speak Spanish, and don't put any music back in your car (well, a little Tejano in if you must, but no English).
Step 4- It has been about 8 weeks total since you decided to learn Spanish. Have you finished units 1 and 2 in Rosetta Stone level 1? That's halfway through 1 of 5 levels, or 10% of the way to being conversational (Rosetta Stone does not make you fluent, but is that really your goal?). Nice work so far. Now, buy a few boring basic Spanish books. McGraw Hill publishes the "practice makes perfect" series. They are cheap and straight forward. Stop doing an hour of Rosetta Stone every night. Start doing 45 minutes of Rosetta Stone and then 15 minutes of verb conjugation or other "basic skills" on paper. Try writing out all of the things you said during your Rosetta Stone session. Don't study from language instruction books more than a few minutes per day. If you're like me, that is the path to quitting.
Step 5- As you approach the 3 month mark in your journey, it is time to stockpile motivation. Take a trip to CR, or Colombia, or DR, or where ever. Make it someplace you have been before so that you can compare with your English only trips of the past. It will be far more awesome now. You can discuss price and activities in Spanish. You can interact with hotel and restaurant workers, as well as drivers, all in Spanish. Yes- your Spanish is all present tense (e.g. Aprendo español) with a smattering of easy future tense thrown in (e.g. Voy a aprender más español). But that's OK. Your'e trying, and chicas around the world will be impressed that you are bothering to try. They will stop using their very limited English in bed. They will start to whisper, or say, or scream things in Spanish instead. This will make you very happy. This is your motivation. Stockpile it. Stockpile it a few times per night, and maybe once or twice in the morning. Be sure to stockpile that motivation good and hard- now go home and keep studying. Try to remember to use articles and prepositions instead of skipping them. Try to remember to skip pronouns when appropriate instead of using them. Those are two very big differences between Spanish and English and if you don't discipline yourself early, it will really slow you down. Training your brain to skip the pronouns takes time and practice- but do it. By this point you should be able to say "vamos a jugar en esta cama toda la noche" instead of "nosotros vamos a jugar en esta cama toda la noche". Is it perfect Spanish? Nope. But was that your goal? It isn't mine at least not right now.
Step 6- Keep on keeping on with that Rosetta Stone. You have knocked out some verbs with your McGraw Hill basic books, so now you need more nouns and adjectives. Buy some vocabulary flashcards. The best ones have words and sentences. Don't practice saying barco when you see a picture of a boat. Instead say "Voy a comprar un barco verde" or something else interesting. Write it down. See if you remembered to assign your adjectives the proper sex- we don't do that in English and it is really easy to forget. Keep a scratch pad of all of the things you are trying to say- if you are expressing your own thoughts then you won't be able to use a book to easily check yourself. You will need a buddy who speaks Spanish to look over your scratch pad once in a while and tell you if there are any mistakes. Perfection isn't the goal. Communication is the goal. Try buying K*ds books- you won't learn a lot of vocabulary that way, but K*ds books have amazing flow and meter. You should be able to knock out "huevos verdes y jamón" pretty easily now. It isn't about any one thing- you need Spanish in your day to day life, and there is no single magic method (not even Rosetta Stone, which is pretty awesome). My very last piece of advice is to buy "10 años con Mafalda". That is a compilation of a decade of a very popular comic strip. By now you will be able to "get" about half of the jokes. Stop and congratulate yourself. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to understand humor in another language? You are doing it, and this time you aren't going to quit- and that's about as far as I can help you get.
Step 7- I can't help you here. Step 6 is as far as I have come. I am continuing my Rosetta Stone daily, and still listen to Spanish CDs in the car. I think I am past the dangerous time for quitting. I didn't claim I knew how to teach you Spanish- only how to get you past the frustration stage. I enjoy my Rosetta Stone time every night at this point. It isn't a burden. I read Mafalda with my morning coffee. I watch ESPN and the news in Spanish- but I won't lie, without the images I would be lost (I cannot, for example, listen to Spanish radio and catch everything). I am not conversational yet, but I can get by, and I am learning more every day and it is no longer frustrating. The point is that I broke past the quitting stage, and you can do. Good Luck.
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