i'm going to be honest here, i fucking blow at speaking foreign languages. i have no problem with the grammar or writing but as for listening and speaking... i am severely lacking. i am trying to improve my spanish because at the end of the month, i have to give a presentation entirely in the language. how much time do i need to dedicate daily to improve myself?

my main problem is that i'm shy about speaking a language i don't know very well. i don't like to put myself out there and risk looking like an idiot. i know i need to get over this but goddamn it is hard because i only know four people who speak spanish and three are teachers and the other has been learning for a long ass time so they speak too quickly and are far too ahead for me to feel comfortable saying anything to them.

In terms of a presentation.  You don't have to be quite fluent in the language yet.  But you need to know your presentation VERY well.  Read it out loud, over and over again, and make sure you know how to pronounce all the words properly and fluently.

And other than that, for me, I like listening to music in the language that I'm learning.  Sometimes it helps me :).  And if you can, just talk to your friends or your teacher only in Spanish when you can... you may be embarrassed, but your teacher knows you're learning, and I would assume your friends are still learning too :).  The only way to get better is to stumble around at first until it becomes almost second nature :).

When I lived there.

Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass das nicht leicht ist. Mögt ihr die Sprache?

I've been learning English in school for 8 years now, French for 5 years and Latin for 3 years.
I hate Latin, but I love English and French.
I've been reading additional literature in English for some years and sometimes I watch the originals of English or American films. In august I'll spend 3 weeks in Ohio, I'm sure I can learn a lot from that vacation.