Use it as much as possible and don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

Laziest fast way is to watch a ton of Spanish speaking movies with Spanish subtitles

THE best way would be to go live in a spanish speaking country The second best is getting a latino girlfriend The third best is geting yourself a private tutor.

The cheaper the way the longer it takes.

Learn a hundred words,

The most common ones, or the ones that are most relevant to your vocation.

Use them incorrectly and ask “como se di-se” (how do you say) to those who are multilingual, or trying to learn English

Live in spain

Another recommendation for Dreaming Spanish!

Anki or similar for flashcards if you want an app. Physically writing things tends to yield better results for most people, so I used to do flashcards and write my answer and, after a few cards, make a sentence out of that.

Get a book or take a course on grammar (many different ways to accomplish this depending upon budget and learning style that works best for you).

Constantly be getting input, even if you don’t understand it.

Shadowing – what comes out of your mouth might sound very different to what you want to say. Work on that accent, intonation, etc.

All of the above were actually about learning Japanese (my 3rd foreign language) and I guess German (my second) to a lesser degree. The only thing I’m aware of with Spanish is that the varieties can differ a lot between Spain and the new world, so you might want to make sure you consume resources related to that.

It won’t be fast, but I’ve had amazing results with Dreaming Spanish.

Spanish is my native tongue, so this might not work as well as I expect it to, but Pimsleur courses are GREAT to get quick phrases and learning to think in the language. They try to teach you very close to how native speakers learn it, and because of the repetition you tend to remember most of it.

That being said most of their content is focused on visiting a different country, so you might not need the very basic phrases like “I’m American, I don’t speak <language>”, but they give you an idea on how the language is structured.

Finally, while Pimsleur and many other suggestions here are great, it varies from person to person so you might need to find what works best for you.

A while back I had an hour commute, so I started doing Pimsleur. They’re CDs/audio streams where a native speaker says something, and you repeat it aloud. Each half-hour session covers a conversation, and the sessions build on each other.

They only cover conversations (not writing) so they’re not a full answer, but they’re a great addition to whatever else you’re doing. You can find the CDs in a lot of libraries, and the first session is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9Rf02Lxnw

The quickest way is probably complete immersion, but I’m guessing that’s off the table. Second best would likely be one-on-one tutoring.

Tell your colleagues you’d like to learn their language and ask if there’s someone willing to correct you and endure you talking their language badly. Then get to learning in the best way you can and practice with them.

You can have conversations with offline text gen AI models. They are usually fluent in many languages. It is not a great primary source but you can treat them like a private tutor that can answer your specific questions and it can point you in the right direction.

Picking up a 2nd (or more) language is just going to be hard. There’s not a magic shortcut, or anything you can buy or course to take that will make you fluent in a month.

That out of the way, there are lots of resources out there!

Look up comprehensible input channels on YouTube (eg, Dreaming Spanish). You can find something at your level, even down to the point where they’ll mostly point at pictures and say words. Eventually add in things like cartoons, news, podcasts, or social media when you feel up to it.

There’s debate about whether you need anything besides input. I’m partial to a mixed approach, so I’d say get a good textbook too.

Anki is great for vocab flashcards (but you’ll have to find decks, which can be annoying). Apps like Duolingo can be a good supplement too.

Make a habit through the day or thinking about how to say things in Spanish. Repeat your sentences in your head, or think about what the Spanish version would be of signs you see.

It’s just a long term goal though, to get anywhere meaningful. Engage with your target language every day.

Fastest? Moving to a Spanish speaking country. Total immersion is how the French Foreign Legion teaches French from my understanding.

I would probably do a mix of a language program, say Duolingo, Pimsler tapes or Rosetta Stone, and asking a few of your Spanish speaking friends to speak primarily Spanish to you, switching to English only when you are completely lost on a concept. Between the two you should pickup Spanish or rather, their dialect of Spanish, fairly quickly.