Voted Best Answer
Sep 25, 2015 - 09:52 AM
I don't have a magic-bullet piece of advice for you. Only this: what you're experiencing is what every language learner goes through. Whether it's Spanish, French, English or ancient Aramaic, the understanding of the spoken word is the final and most difficult piece of the puzzle. And it doesn't matter whether you have zero aptitude for language learning or you can start speaking right away in a foreign tongue, everyone has difficulty understanding someone speaking in their native tongue when they speak as they would to other native speakers. Running words together occurs in every language. And the only way to learn what's going on is to continually expose yourself to it.
See what I mean? There's no shortcut to understanding native speakers. But I can tell you that I studied Fluenz Spanish 1&2, went to Spain, and experienced exactly what you're talking about. But by the end of my two-week stay, it got much easier. While I didn't understand every single word, I was able to grasp the key words in a phrase so that I was able to put them into the context. And as the two weeks progressed, my brain was able to tune out the white noise of anxiety and grasp more words in a sentence. Give it time. It'll happen for you, too.
See what I mean? There's no shortcut to understanding native speakers. But I can tell you that I studied Fluenz Spanish 1&2, went to Spain, and experienced exactly what you're talking about. But by the end of my two-week stay, it got much easier. While I didn't understand every single word, I was able to grasp the key words in a phrase so that I was able to put them into the context. And as the two weeks progressed, my brain was able to tune out the white noise of anxiety and grasp more words in a sentence. Give it time. It'll happen for you, too.