Learning a foreign language especially if you want to learn to speak French, is terrific endeavor. French is widely spoken in a crazy variety of places so no global traveler should really go without learning this language. The opportunity to learn French is precious, since this is the language of many UN missions. To learn French is to advance socially and french wines morally.
If you are a native English speaker, one of the best reasons to learn French is to help you understand your own language. The most important thing you need to learn French is the desire to acquire the language. The best way to learn French is to have a French course that will teach you to speak French in an easy way.
There are many ways to learn to speak French. You can buy a book and french wines try to teach yourself though without hearing the words spoken you cannot learn it correctly. You could also buy very expensive audio tapes or a cd set with books but last time I checked those are several hundred dollars! If you can find a local class that meets when you can attend, isn't too expensive or too far away and french wines moves at a pace that works for you then that would be a good choice. But how many of us have a local French class that we can attend?
The best way to learn to speak French is to put yourself around native French speaking people. Just making the effort to learn French is half the battle.