Is writing an effective way of learning a language?

While in the military, I learned parts of languages in a few places overseas that helped me get by, but I doubt if I could write any of the phrases down accuratley.

How about if you know how things are pronounced, and have already learnt the basics of the language?

Well, then I’d say when it comes to learning something. go with your gut feeling because that will usually work. Writing the language certainly cant hurt. my advice is to do what you want and feel about it and it won’t let you down for putting a foot forward

The most effective way is total immersion. Live someplace where that language is spoken and learn to get by. Short of that there methods like Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, and Berlitz that can be successful if you are willing to work at it. You can usually learn enough phrases to get by before long but becoming fluent in a second language is a lot of work.

The best way to learn a language is repetition. I’m currently studying French, Spanish and Italian. My Italian course is ab initio, which means I’m learning it from scratch. Start by learning simple tenses (present, immediate past, imperfect, future) then yeah, you can try writing in order to get yourself used to them. Or as filletofspam said, total immersion is a good idea if you can :)