Work in a kitchen
Date someone who speaks spanish
Live in a Spanish speaking country/region
Watch tv in Spanish
Listen to Spanish music
Try to progress from having conversations at the level of kids, to teens, and then teenage to adult type reading/conversations
Study to speak, learn rules of the language then practice the language
All in all, I left the US not knowing the French phonetic alphabet, let alone language. Within a month of living in France , I could order food in public, ask/receive/read directions, ask for help, introduce myself, etc.
6 months in, I was listening to more French rap than American rap, listening to French radio for my news, and only speaking French in all courses. At a year, I was living/working a French, I taught 11-14 yr olds and at this point, their French was worse than mine. I had friends that could only communicate in French.
If I didn’t live in the po’dunk middle America, I’d try my best to learn the basics and then speak only Spanish in public: put me in Miami, Cali, Texas, etc, I’d be conversational in 3 months.
