Quote Originally Posted by MOG
What I mean is that we need exposure to the target language so that we’ll find good amount of expressions easily. Although at first we have to use dictionary so often that we may be quite irritated but after some period of time I suppose we’ll have enough knowledge to understand others and express ourselves to some extent.
I agree. I think it's great if people can learn some of another language from games, comics, TV, whatever. By immersing yourself in another country's pop culture, you can pick up on everyday speech that might not be in textbooks, or at least skip over the roots of the grammar. Although I don't think you can totally learn a language that way, it's a big help.

Talking about the dictionary made me laugh. I was just using my Russian dictionary to try to translate a Света song. It's the same way I learned Japanese - I like to get ahead of myself and start translating things, even if I don't understand a lot of the grammar yet. But even when I can only understand bits and pieces, it encourages me to continue with my studies. It's irritating to pick up the dictionary for every other word, but it's good practice.