My Experience Learning German
Learning german: At primary school I had 3 years of German language. My level at that time was rather bad than good.
When I had my graduation of primary school I went to Aachen, situated in Germany, to study Mechanical Engineering. I followed this study for 3 years.
I learned a lot of words in that time. During this time I met a German girl and I started a relationship with her. Her primary language was German (native I'm Dutch). Through her I met a lot of German people and spoke a lot with them.
After the 3 years I started with an other education as Sales Assistant IT in Germany as well. At this time I could speak German fluently and more words came into my treasury. After this education I started to work in a Callcenter of a well known IT-Company where the support was done in german.
So, I really didn't use much books, but I learned the language very well and still use it.