u/An5i

I've seen many posts saying not to learn German from an English point of view, i.e., not to use Google Translate to translate each word in a sentence 1:1. I'm currently doing Nico's Weg A1, and if I get confused/stuck on anything, I search online and usually find an answer. So my question is: what is the proper way to learn German? Any other tips would be appreciated. Danke!