Language Learning

In reading a biography of Samuel Zwemer, I came across this advice from a  Dr Van Dyck when asked by Zwemer about learning Arabic:

To learn Arabic properly is a seven-day-a-week job. The only way to do it right is to neglect all English papers and books and read, talk, and think only in Arabic. Then you'll have made a beginning.

R,L and I have just started learning Arabic. Reading this wasn't very encouraging!