Go to the country to learn the language.

Language students complain and whine that they have been studying English (or Spanish) for "20" years, or "30" years with poor results. They have no fluency, faulty grammar, laughable pronunciation and have decided that the best way to learn is to go to the country.
Of course, after questioning it turns out that, although true they started studying 20 years ago, they have taken altogether about 40 or 50 hours of instruction, of classroom instruction. The on-and-off language student drops out for some months, takes it up for a a fortnight again, forgets it for a year, and changes teachers often... No wonder!
So, the amateur language student comes to the conclusion that the only way for her to learn is to go to the country. The balmy air of Madrid, or the humidity of London, spur the learning process. Native speakers are waiting for foreigners in order to instruct them, converse with them. correct them and guide them through the maze of language mastery. 18 hours of daily street practice will work miracles and in three months the target language will be mastered! And effortlessly, without studying.
My idea is that after having mastered the basic grammar, basic phonetics, basic vocabulary, basic phraseology... go to the country! But not to study English or Spanish. Go to study photography, or ballet, or history, or cooking. In any of those classes you will meet native speakers, you will learn in the target language, you will practice. Do NOT join an Academy or language school full of foreigners like you.
What do you think?