This is super helpful.

Question

I read the written French easily but understanding the spoken is so so so hard for me. This is just at the right level.  I can understand maybe 1/3rd of it.

Accepted Answer

Hi Elizabeth,
Listening skills ( or understanding the spoken word) is in my experience the hardest part of learning a foreign language but if you are understanding a third you are doing really well, so -
 Bonne continuation!

Answer

I got about 70% first time around, and about another 15% next time around. I wrote it down and then checked my spellings against the written text, then played it a third time to see what I'd missed. The French do run some words together which makes it so important to listen first rather than read the script. If you read first, you expect the pronunciation to be as per the written word. Really good exercise.