I've gone through this process myself.
If you know nothing I find the best way to start is to learn some basic phrases that are used all the time (hi, how are you?, my name is, etc). Then learn some basic verbs (to go, to have, to be) and basic nouns. Lastly, learn the three basic tenses -- past, present, future. You can sign up for courses to teach you this stuff, but really its simple enough to learn with a few books or online resources.
I found for learn nouns French children's books are actually really helpful. I know that sounds a bit stupid, but they're simple and full of pictures, which helped someone like me with a visual memory.
Once you have some basics down, the hardest part begins, and that's to recall everything quickly enough to speak naturally. The only way to do this is practice, practice, practice and then practise some more. It takes a lot of effort. This is where courses (that give you a chance to speak, not a University course) are very useful. Reading books and watching videos is a good way to learn some basics, but to truly learn a language you need to speak it as often as you can.
It also helps to listen a lot to native speakers once you start to get semi-fluent. If you don't know any try watching some French films. I also used the BBC website a bit which had videos for learning French. It has a mode where you can turn subtitles on and off, so you can try to understand without first, and if you can't get it you can turn them on. I used those CDs you can get too, which helped a bit but I didn't find them overly useful.
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