Native English-speaker here, moved to a German-speaking nation 20 years ago and have become a fluent German speaker as a result. Just want to add my 2c about that wall of sound ..
At the beginning I found it very difficult to parse German as I heard it on the street and in general life circumstances. It wasn't until I rigorously started looking up words I 'thought' I heard, with a dictionary, and gained about 100 of these, before I could accurately parse a spoken sentence.
I think its very important to use a dictionary when learning another language. It wasn't until I got a massive English/German dictionary that I felt I stood a chance.
Another thing that really helped was using sub-titles and watching TV, even if it was a show I wasn't interested in - it taught me so many words that I had heard, but not recognized.
At the beginning I found it very difficult to parse German as I heard it on the street and in general life circumstances. It wasn't until I rigorously started looking up words I 'thought' I heard, with a dictionary, and gained about 100 of these, before I could accurately parse a spoken sentence.
I think its very important to use a dictionary when learning another language. It wasn't until I got a massive English/German dictionary that I felt I stood a chance.
Another thing that really helped was using sub-titles and watching TV, even if it was a show I wasn't interested in - it taught me so many words that I had heard, but not recognized.