[STRIKE]Greeting all,[/STRIKE] Hello everyone
What is the best way to improve your language skills?
[STRIKE]This[/STRIKE] It is my belief that if you want to improve your skills in any language you need to practice formal speaking (more than just chatting). You can also learn other cultures' conversational skills.
I wasn't quite sure what you meant but some of your final paragraph so I have guessed at the meaning and made the appropriate corrections. If it's not what you wanted to say, then I'm sorry.
In answer to your basic question, using the language is the best way to practice. Anyone can learn it from a book but it is only when you take part in a conversation (preferably with a native speaker) that you really get to practice and discover what you have actually learnt.
Listen to English language radio, watch English language TV and films to get a good grip on the rhythm and cadence of the language. Don't expect to understand every single word and remember that a lot of what you will hear will be slang and colloquialism. Most of what you hear will be generally grammatically correct. If you hear "I did really well" 9 times and "I done really good" once, then use your initiative to work out that "I did really well" is probably correct and the other form probably isn't.
I would recommend finding a native speaker to meet with a couple of times a week for conversation classes. You will have to pay but it will be worth it. They're best if they're unstructured and it's not like a classroom lesson. Just chat about anything and everything and ask the native speaker to speak as if they are speaking to another native speaker. You will be amazed what you pick up.
This should be done in conjunction with more formal study, of course, as well as using this forum for specific language questions.