Well it seems a lot of you have taken formal classes, that is soooo great! I wish I could do that but right now it's not possible so I have to use any resources that I can on my own. I had considered the DS with the Japanese Coach software but in some website I read it wasn't very good. But I may re-think that now.

I think being able to practice with regular conversation is essential and it is something that I really want to do. My first language is Spanish and even though I learned English grammar in school, I didn't learn how to have a proper conversation until I actually had one on a daily basis. Music helps (for pronunciation), TV helps, magazines, books but conversation is also very important.

One website/blog that motivated me a lot was http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ I recommend it to everyone. The technique is a bit extreme but you can adjust it to your liking.

Thanks everyone and keep practicing!