Move to Germany.

Thank you all for your wonderful feedback and advice! I have since tracked down a few websites that will allow me to watch shows and movies that I enjoy dubbed over in German and have been dedicating more time to reviewing my notes and "doing a little bit a night" as opposed to just whenever I feel like it. I know my biggest hurdle is laziness. The more serious I am about learning this language the more effort I undoubtedly have to put in. ;) It'll take time and patience, but I'm sure I'll come out on top in the long run if I stay at it and continue to put what's been learned to practice. Yay determination! :D

it's completely normal that it will take time to learn any language perfectly. also, as soon as you don't need a language on a regulary basis your language skills will be shifted to the passive section of your language knowledge. i do think that learning about grammar is almost as important as learning vocab, but langzage aquisition studies have also shown that most students who can fill in a grammar test correctly fail to use just the same grammar in spontaneous speech. this is discouraging for many learners but it is completely normal! it just takes time until your cognitively "learned" language knowledge becomes a automatized part of your language skills. but this can only happen if you actually need to talk, and not just a little but A LOT. you're saying you're dating a german guy. but does that also mean you guys actually speak german all the time? i once had an american bf who was working in germany and even though we were in germany about 80% of our day we communicated in english because it just felt...well..."easier". to make things worse most germans you'll meet in daily life know enough english to commicate fairly well and so he ended up talking english most of the time. So how to learn german quickly and effectively: 1. Talk, talk, talk...Find a person who's willing to talk german to you straight and who will also only reply if you use german. make it very clear that you need this as a practice so you won't end up talking english again. 2. Pick any german magazine and try to read about subjects of daily life which interst you. i don't think that you should learn any vocabulary just for the sake of it but you should try to get some idea about which topics are being discussed right now in germany and by reading magazines you'll automatically pick up relevant vocab for daily talk and also casual use of grammar. same goes for movies and tv shows. 3. Don't get discouraged if you find yourself using wrong grammar or searching for words. the primar function of language is to communicate and as long as you're understood you're doing fine. by listening to your opposite's answer you'll gradually improve. without knowing it you'll take over sentence constructions and expressions from the persons you talk with the most, you might even take over their dialect a bit.

The Michel Thomas CDs are quick and "dirty" way to learn to speak. They focus on learning to speak, not learning grammar. You can buy them on eBay for cheap. You can also find them on Pirate Bay. I have been using the Pimsleur German CD. I like them, find them very good for learning vocabulary. Again you can find them on Pirate Bay. Message me if you need further info on downloading from Internet.

Hi try the videos on this Italki site http://www.italki.com/resources/german/videos