Enroll in a conversational German class at your local university or community college. A conversational course will teach you basic German grammar, pronunciation and listening skills, and will be especially useful for developing verbal communication skills.
Read books on the German language. While many students find textbooks to be especially informative, there are a wide variety of casual, conversational books that teach German. Books offer phrases and basic grammatical structures and contain tips for learning to read printed German. Complete any exercises or work pages books offer to get the most from them.
Listen to German as much as possible. Select German music, television shows, movies and podcasts to add variety to your studies. Listening to German, even when you can't understand what's being said, is beneficial because it allows you to become comfortable with the way the language is spoken. Listening also forces you to try to understand new words you might not learn from a book.
Create or download a set of flash cards with German words and phrases on them. Review them daily to practice your vocabulary words. Flash cards not only reinforce words you already know, but also instill new words in your mind as you see them repeatedly. Some educational websites offer free online flash cards to use. If you prefer a hard copy that you can carry around, create your own flash cards using index cards.
Put yourself in situations where you're forced to use the German you've used. Depending on where you live, this could be a challenge, but most larger cities have "Germantown" areas where you can interact with native German speakers. You may also want to ask around to see if you know people who have German relatives who'd be willing to help you enhance your conversational skills.