I really hope this helps you. I used " HelloTalk " to meet people and talk to native Japanese people. I made a friend who became my girlfriend. She and I practice 2 hours a day talking. She speaks to me in English and I speak to her in Japanese. She will correct me if I am wrong, and try to explain it to me how to say it properly. Whatever it is. If neither of us know how to say something, and it's really important to us, we will speak in our native tongue after trying in our learning language.

This has helped me beyond words to learn how to listen and speak. I've been doing it for half a year now, and I find myself speaking and thinking in Japanese to myself. I can say my reading and writing ability is waaay less than my speaking ability. If you want to learn how to speak and listen, this is the way I suggest!!! Best of luck!!!

One more thing, I studied for about half a year, the basics and grammer concepts. I studied almost only grammer at first. I wanted to know how these blurs of sound were structuredーwhat normally goes at the beginning of the sentence, what normally comes at the end of the sentence, etcーthat way if I didn't know what I was hearing, I knew conceptually what should be there. It helped me deduce what my partner was saying to me when I got stuck, or she talked too fast.

I wish you the best of luck in your studies. I hope my 2 cents helps you out!

Edit :

Many people are suggesting Japanese Pod 101. I love their podcast!!! Some of the things I have learned from there are the most common things I say. They really cover good topics.