Anna,

I find that 1x1 is best.  I prefer in person as this includes visual clues.  But, before I start any kind of classes I prefer to use tapes or CDs in my car so that I have some basic words and I have a sense of the 'sound' that different words make.   I have traveled to few countries where I did not speak the language and I liked the immersion forcing me to learn quickly, but this is where I realized some foundation accelerates my learning.

Anna:

   Even learning  with a tutor or teacher is still "learning a language yourself". 

Each of these  methods  contribute in a different way.  (a)  You can learn entirely by yourself, but  leaves gaps in knowledge. (b) Learning at school,  or  through a purchased program can give you  some needed structure. (c) Learning with a tutor....entirely depends upon the ability and intelligence of the tutor, which is the great unknown.

TUTOR:   If a tutor can integrate and combine,  your other lesson materials into their intstruction,  you have powerful reinforcement and REPETITION.  If the tutor teaches something unrelated to the other  lessons you have,  the instruction  is not much of a reinforcement.

PURCHASED PROGRAMS  are, in my opinion,   a  waste of money. 

With the advent of the Internet,  most knowledge is freely available online.

 LESSONS  VIA SKYPE:   If these are not a  REPETITION or a REINFORCEMENT of your other studies,  they are  not  necessarily a benefit.  Of course they help with your development of "an ear" for a language; but then, you can get that from listening to a song, or a  movie dialogue

(with REPETITION).  A student can ways   months and years exchanging  casual  conversation  with a

language partner,  and make very little progress  using Skype.  If a language partner   or tutor  offers you actual lessons in a language,  Skype can be of very great benefit.

Hi, I agree with Bruce's statement: <em>Even learning with a tutor or teacher is still "learning a language yourself".</em>

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For me, it was helpful when one of my italki tutors brought to my attention that in the US, they do not pronounce "better" as "better" but as "bedder"; Betty as "beddy". Since that I can listen that. Before that my ears had ingored that.

Also, another tutor explained me what is the difference between "Did you see that?" and "Have you seen that?" in a specific context I  had provided. She explained me how she naturaly felt about that. ...and that was I had been looking for. To get a feel for how to use it and not to get any other theoretical/book explanation.

Another thing. I like when a teacher or tutor is like an open book and I can ask almost everything about the language. I can learn a new expression on my own from news, a book ... but sometimes I need a confirmation from a lving perosn - English native speaker that I use that expression really in a correct way and in a proper situation. They know how things really work, are used.

I wish I could have a teacher/a tutor by my side for several hours a day, having chat, be corrected immediately when needed, learn new words, expressions, pronunciation when it is needed in the current situation; or if I could ask anytime what a word mean ... like children do when asking "Mum, what is this?" Since this is not possible, I learn things on my own (movies, books, news, videos, audibooks, English forums...) and with a little help of italki tutors.

Learning a language by myself and get some videos on youtube or some websites.

It will be both if you use video call on skype. In a person we can see the reaction of person or some demos about something but instead if we use skype without a cam it will be hard to understand something what we haven't done before.