Obtain a study guide, educational video or source an online tutorial that teaches you beginner's German. These materials should contain easy steps to learn basic German phrases that will enable you to introduce yourself, order food or book a hotel room. The BBC and eLanguage School websites provide online courses to teach you this level of German.
Plan to study for at least an hour, twice a week. Establish a routine so that you can easily absorb German grammar rules and basic pronunciation techniques. Set aside some time before you start reading through your study aids to focus your energy.
Open and read the first chapter of your study guide, or watch your first online tutorial. Simply review the information first in order to understand a little bit about the grammar, way of speaking and differences between English and German.
Begin learning easy German. Start with numbers -- begin with 0 to 10, as these are the easiest, and then practice reciting the alphabet. Listen to how the letters are pronounced and repeat them aloud.
Understand basic grammar rules, such as that nouns are either masculine or feminine. Note that, unlike English, verbs come at the end of a sentence in German. Knowing how sentences are structured will help you understand the fundamentals of the language and learn faster.
Learn basic phrases to introduce yourself. For example, "Hallo, wie gehts?" means "Hello, how are you?" Respond by saying "Gut, danke" which means "Good, thanks." Some German words sound similar to their English counterparts, but are spelled differently. You can use some of these similar words to remember how to speak German.
Progress through your study guide and make sure you do the German practice exercises that accompany it. This will make learning German easy, as you naturally absorb the information while you work through the learning material.
Become comfortable with talking about yourself -- your hobbies, interests, education, home town and job. Easy conversations can be built using these basic topics. Practice using three or four simple sentences relating to each of these topics to develop your skills.
Tune into German television, listen to German radio or watch German films. Although the language used is more advanced, listening to native speakers will enhance your German skills and make learning the fundamentals even easier as you become familiar with the new sounds and sentence structures.