If I'm brand new, I like to have strucutred lessons and speak in simple dialogues after learning and understanding the structure of that simple thing that I was taught before. Then, but in general, I like to start repeating and doing some guided small dialogues and more and more learning the structure, grammar and vocabulary, then I start feeling more confident. Nowadays I can have a whole session of conversation in Russian and I thought that'd not be possible. 

But waiting too much in order to start speaking or reproducing the language is weird in my opinion!

To practice a language with professional teachers in a language school is the most efficient way (so far as my experience can reach) but it would have to be based upon if you have sufficient words to complete your sentences  and teachers are willing to correct you whenever you have problems in wording. I guess most of native speakers are not inclined to correct your words frequently unless they are teachers and you ask for that.

Here is the thing I want to highlight is "efficiency". Supposing you do not have basic vocabulary/phrase/grammar foundation, you have to collect even more practices to consolidate your learned knowledge, it is arguable if it is more efficient. More reasonable manner is to practice a language in all 4 fields that involve reading, writing, speaking and listening. To practice speaking with native speakers is a good  idea to make your English better, but that should not be the only way to master a language.

good luck to all learners

I personally benefit from speaking from day one. Benny Lewis, a popular Irish polyglot also strongly advocates this. I believe getting over that hump and trying to eliminate that speaking paralysis is very important thing to do quite early when learning a language. I personally always try to focus on how well I know the language and how well I can converse and get my point across first, rather than my accent. Many people often study languages by sticking their heads in textbooks and watching videos - which is a quite effective method, don't get me wrong - but I personally prefer making it a bit more organic and real by going out and trying to communicate with natives of the language, even if I only know a couple phrases. I may embarrass myself quite a bit, but what better way is there to learn a language by practicing with those who speak it fluently? 

Yes, children study their own language early on in school. However, babies first begin to pick it up by being around it all the time and practicing it with native speakers (mom/dad/family members etc).

I think a lot of audio input in the beginning of learning a language is quite important, as it let's you know the rythym, stresses, rate of speech, pronunciation and common phrases. I often try to look for music, movies and podcasts to get a sense of when to say certain expressions. 

Interesting topic, thank you for the post! 

I prefer to have some lessons first via a teacher and/or do an online course.  I'd wait until I could talk about simple events in the past, present plus future and then I'd listen to the language on tv or radio. 

I take my hat off to people who can talk to natives on the first day. I tried and it was awful...lol! 

I'm one of those learners who does a lot of listening before speaking.

I speak with native speakers immediatelly because it's very useful for me. That's how I get the explanations in the langauge I learn + I improve my vocabulary. 

Also, I'm very communicative girl, so I like to make friendships with them, to exchange my culture with them etc.