As your vocabulary grows, immerse yourself in social media to learn how language is used for conversation, jokes, and current events.

Although Twitter tweets are limited to 140 characters, a tweet can still contain unusual, contemporary or regional words that may be unfamiliar. Fortunately, Twitter does allow users to post images, so you can benefit from seeing some visual cues to the meaning.

Here is a selection of Twitter accounts that you may enjoy following:

• German learn - tweets a new word a day, giving a definition and example sentence
• German should be fun - tweets in German and then again in English five minutes later

Although many accounts do re-tweet, and post the same content later, the basic concept of Twitter is that the content is timely but transitory. Social media is a lot of fun, and it can help reinforce learning of words you already know. However, because the reinforcement may be limited, it isn't an optimal use of time for learning.

Listening to videos in German is a good way to build familiarity with German pronunciation and the rhythm native speakers use in conversation. Here are some good Youtube channels that may help improve your listening skills:

• Deutsch für Euch - beginner level
• Learn German with Herr Antrim - intermediate advanced level

Because social media evolves rapidly, I will be updating this page frequently. If you have a favorite, please let me know.

Lastly, be cautious about diving into endless drills and grammar exercises. Athough it's important for you to review Grammar occasionally, it's far more important, and a better use of your time to immerse yourself in quality German literature, in this way you will learn the use of forms by example, and in context.