Remember that reading a language and speaking the language are two separate skills. A language course that focuses on the spoken word will likely provide little information on written language, but it is often easy to pick up written language once you understand the spoken.

Taking a language course is a wonderful way to expand your knowledge as well as learn about a culture. You may just have an interest in a group of people or a culture, you don't need to be planning a trip or vacation to choose to learn a new language.

No matter how little of the language that you know it is critical to use the language as much as possible. There may be a tendency to be embarrassed about actually trying out your new skills but this is the only way to become fluent and practiced.