Yo, hipsters. It’s me Ziggy.
I’m living proof that it’s possible to learn a language by memorizing a phrasebook.
I used this method to learn Spanish by memorizing 10 phrases per day (on average) for five months.
And it’s not hard at all.
All you need is a computer, a Spaced Repetition System like Anki (it’s free) and a digital phrasebook (i.e. a phrasebook with recorded audio files of each of the phrases so that your pronunciation is correct).
It is a cheap, easy, non time-consuming way to learn a language. In fact it is so effective that I’m now using this method to learn Chinese.
I blog about my progress once a week.
Memorise the Phrasebook to Learn a New Language 
I love this idea. My father-in-law has 50 words he writes down at learns whenever he’s going to be in another country. Just that small effort makes a huge difference. I’m going to try your method.
Good luck! Which language are you going to learn?
I shall be trying this myself. Except I shall try and learn 30 phrases from the phrasebook per day. Now that you’ve been through the process with a few different languages, are there any gotchas that I should take note of? Thanks 🙂