Alright folks, to make things clear, I need to tell you first that despite having been learning and using English for 5 years, I'm still not clear about this issue.
The reasons are:
1.
I took English class with professionals and the I just simply followed what they told me to do: When to listen to a song, when to practice speaking by having small conversation, when to do exercises... without paying attention at the methods nor the courses. 2.
I've learnt English in an English speaking only environment (which explains why I can use English naturally).
(But once again, as a self-learner now, I no longer have this advantage.)
The only things I've learnt so far in starting to learn a new language are the ones below (I put it in orders):
1.
First ,start by practicing consonants and vowels
=> New language means new "sounds".
And in my opinion, learning how a "sound" means then repeating it to deliver your own ideas is learning how language works.
You cannot learn a language if you cannot know its "sounds" and how to repeat them. 2.
Learn simple phrases, ignore learning grammar rules at this point.
=> Learning simple phrases's not only easy to do but also help you to grab some ideas how that language works (hence,it helps you getting used to the grammar structures soon).
Learning grammar at this point would be too heavy and unnecessary. 3.
Learning simple and commons vocabulary.
=> Well, you could start by learning some verbs/adjectives/... but synonyms or word families should not be learnt yet. 4.
Practice as frequently as possible:
=> Keep using what you've learnt repeatedly until it becomes naturally.
What do you think about this?