Personally I always use this method. I start with books or lessons given by mothertongue teachers to learn the basic grammar. Then I start reading something short, like news on newspapers or on the internet. Finally I pass to movies and videos. Obviously it is always helpful to find someone to speak with.

I think you can't understand a new language, if you don't know the basic grammar. At the beginning it' s better to rely on the books, then you can start watching videos. :)

It depends on the specific language and how its features match or mismatch your strengths and weaknesses as a learner, for instance: - for mandarin Chinese I started by listening intensively because I am very bad at distinguishing tones and, in general, sounds are very different from my mother tongue, same thing for English. Didn't study Hanzi because was busy with Kanji (for completeness: had to give up mandarin after completing Pimsleur 1 2 and 3. for the time being) - Japanese I started studying only the writing system because pronunciation is very similar to Italian - Spanish I would start just by reading, pronunciation regular and reasonably similar to my mother, many words are similar - French I learned mostly by listening because grammar is very similar to Italian and because at the time I was too busy with work and had no time and energies for grammar :-)

As for all languages, practice is fundamental. I strongly advise the following suggestions: 1) Try to learn at least one new word everyday (helps vocabulary) 2) Try to listen to songs in English while reading the lyrics (helps your passive language) 3) Try to watch movies in English with English subtitles (helps your passive language) 4) Try to write short sentences in English (helps your active language) 5) Try to talk with people whose English is better than yours (helps your active language) 6) Have fun :)

the better way is ... conversation with native speakers.