I've had an idea about learning a foreign language that I have yet to try out. The idea is based on some software called Rosetta Stone that I heard about some time ago. Rosetta Stone teaches you vocabulary in a foreign language by using photographic flash cards. For example, they'd show a picture of a tree labelled "árbol" (for Spanish) and you associate the Spanish word directly with your mental image of a tree. Learning via text-only flash cards would mean the associations are funnelled through your English grammar and potentially corrupted in the process.
So down to my idea. I would label all of the common, everyday objects in my house in Spanish (since that is the language I want to learn). Now when I pick up the phone I see the note "teléfono", and when I go to bed I see the bed frame labelled "cama". Eventually I learn these words subconsciously and they are second nature.
I have no theory on learning grammar, though, but I think day-to-day vocabulary would be a good first step. After all, isn't that how babies learn?
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It might not be how babies learn.
PPS - I tried asking them, but they won't tell me.
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