[orewasenshi]

Well, considering that I'm kind of mentally inept to learning on my own, I usually go to experts like teachers or people who have a lot of knowledge on said language.

My sister knows Japanese, so I've been learning from the books and the stuff she's been doing.

Books are good to get a great understanding of the language, and it helps me out a lot, but everyone learns differently.

I also use a game on my DS called MyJapanese Coach. I think it's another great way to get to know the basics of Japanese. It gives you the building blocks to learn Japanese, and it's highly interactive.

As I said before, everyone learns differently. Some learn better by being interactive and hands-on, and some don't. So really, just go with what you want to try :3