I am a language teacher, so factor that into the advice that follows: 1. Find a language teacher that excels at teaching beginners. Tell the teacher that you only want to study 1 hour a week but that you promise to do 6-10 hours a week of homework (for at least 3 months). Ask for a plan from the teacher based on this schedule. A good teacher is much like a good doctor and should be able to give you a good plan. The teacher should be able to fill those 6-10 hours with productive work.

2. Do not evaluate yourself based on what you can produce (say) but rather on what you can understand. Listening in particular is the royal road to language learning. Also, if you can understand slow normal speech you will have personal proof of progress which will reduce self-doubt. Remember communication is not possible without understanding.

3. Make sure that you have mastered all the phonemes in the target language. By doing this first you can avoid many problems later.