Self-study idea:
First would be the usual, looking for your inspiration, goal, blah, blah, blah.
Second would be getting a good source to study Japanese. There are a lot of guides out there. Choose the guides that teaches you Hiragana and Katakana first. Don't choose the guides in romaji because acc. to some people, it's like a trap, telling you it's easy, but it's harder in the late part of the learning.
Third would be, assuming you have mastered the guide or something, look for another guide. Repeating step 2 would be great but there aren't much great Japanese guides out there but trying them all would be nice. Be wary though that it might confuse you some times so make sure your source is reliable. (Hopefully, using the a romaji guide would be fine; just make sure you know what hiragana or katakana to use. If you don't, don't bother learning with that guide.)
Fourth would be watching anime without subtitle (soft subs would be great), make your own translation in a pad or something, check it out if it has the same thought with the translation of the subbers. (At this step, you might need a Japanese to English dictionary.)
The fourth step was something from Subculture Anime Blog. :3 Alternatively, you could go to Japanese chat rooms (and talk to 'em); make sure it's your preferred topic or it might bore you.
At this time, you should be able to translate them immediately without having to think about which word goes.
You are now good to go but let me tell you something, you might not be fluent in Japanese (especially in the accentuation part) but when you meet fluent Japanese-speaking people, don't be bothered or feel negative about them speaking fluently and you trying hard to speak fluently. It's fairly natural especially since you're not from Japan (making it not unusual). (Some people might make fun of you, probably idiots, but reasonable people wouldn't do that.)
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I have read a Japanese guide, not even halfway through. These are just some tips I got from a lot of people while searching about Japanese. And by the way, I can't read/understand/write Japanese. These are tips from someone who doesn't know Japanese. (Of course, a person who watches anime like me should know some of the basics like the honorific titles.)
And yeah, all of these are my ideas and thoughts. They aren't necessarily facts. :3