When I first tried (and failed) to learn Spanish during high school I was limited to using a book, pen and paper. Because I was home schooled and my mother did not like allowing me to interact with people my own age or significantly different from our own family*, I didn't even have the option to try practicing my language skills. Basically, I was being set up for failure.
Now, however, I have a lot more options. For learning the language itself I have the excellent DuoLingo app, which also has German, French, Italian, and Portuguese available for English speakers and many courses available for speakers of other languages as well, and for practicing I have my friends on Facebook and Google+, as well as the UniLang Spanish language forums. UniLang also has forums for many other languages, including Esperanto.
Speaking of Esperanto, anyone wishing to learn "la internacia lingvo" should check out Lernu, an awesome website dedicated to teaching Esperanto. It has several different Esperanto courses and is available in a ridiculous number of languages. Besides the courses, it is also set up as a social networking website with user profiles, messaging, and forums, providing an opportunity for new Esperantists to interact with other beginners as well as more experienced Esperantists from around the globe.
Back to Spanish: if you're American you really have no excuse for not practicing Spanish, unless you're in a situation like I was growing up, since it is absolutely everywhere here. Businesses will put up signs when they're hiring in both English and Spanish, menus are often bilingual, with both English and Spanish available, there are Mexican restaurants and grocery stores in most decent sized cities, we have Telemundo and often have Spanish language local channels, as well as radio... Basically, whatever you do and wherever you go you have the opportunity to practice in America.
So get out there. Learn!
*This is not representative of most home schooled individuals' experiences.
Links:
http://www.unilang.org
http://www.lernu.net
http://www.duolingo.com
http://www.telemundo.com
