After reading manga, watching anime, for around 7 years, it's gotten pretty easy for my to understand it. But, what helped me read (Romanized much better than Kanji, Hiragana some too) it and speak it (Quite fluently now!) is Live Mocha.
Didn't have to spend a dime, other than on the anime, and this really quite helped!:
http://livemocha.com/
With some corrections a bit from my Japanese friends, I slowly got that hang of it, and now it's quite easy to speak it!
I find anime that's in English, garbage. You want to get a true experience watching anime, watch it raw or with subtitles. The English just ruins it.
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