Punkybrewster
My second option would be taking classes...
It's the formal way and you can get a lot from them. You can try one
and see for yourself if they are useful. If not see below...
Punkybrewster
But what do you guys think about those tapes with the little booklets
for teaching yourself at home? You know, those "learn Spanish in 30
days" or so?
Well, I'm afraid this kind of courses are not what they say they are.
You have to be very careful buying this teaching-yourself courses, most
(?) of them are just a marketing gimmick than anything. If you have to
learn by yourself from the beginning, I must tell you that it's not
easy, because there are a lot of material to study from and all of them
complement each other, besides it will depend on your own way of
learning.
All in all, I have heard very good comments about the FSI Spanish courses, maybe you may want to take a look.