A few years ago I was strictly a MSFT admin and wanted to learn linux. I spent all of my free time for 9 months on Ubuntuforums, researching problems for other people and learning linux in the process. My work was noticed and I was promoted to mod after three months. The recognition was appreciated but I couldn't continue at that pace--there are other things to study.

The last poster was correct on his point that you will not learn a language in a classroom. I spent two years studying Spanish in high school and one year in college on Mandarin and it was a complete waste of time.

I can't drive across the border to Wisconsin to find another language to practice.