learn to speak a second language.

I want to become fluent in a second language. The question is which one… I am leading toward Mandarin now but I may also consider Spanish, Arabic, or Thai among others.

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school 20 years ago. I always received A’s. However, I never learned to speak Spanish. I know some basic grammar and vocabulary, but I can’t really speak it. All of the ads I see basically want to teach me how to say Hello, My name is, and Where’s the post office. Who talks like that? Listen to CD’s in my car for the umpteenth time? Speech software that gets every other word wrong? Interactive software that teaches how to point and click rather than think and speak? Well, at least it led me here. Maybe an interactive community will be better.