I've posted this elsewhere and someone said it would be appreciated here also. So here goes.
Okay, I've been studying German for years and while my Reading/Writing is fantastic and my speaking is okay, I've always had trouble with listening (partially because my hearing is garbage, but not legally deaf so not really an excuse). Mostly it's the verbs all coming at the end of long sentences and either thick accents or 'machine-gun' talking (Looking at you, north Germans. Punctuation is there for a reason). I don't really know Germans so I try to improve my listening by listening to the news/music.
Today, they were talking about Fußball in Berlin and other sports stuff that I don't really care about. The woman they were speaking to, Barbara Mohr I think, was speaking a million miles an hour. I literally understood nothing apart from 'haben, dass, Fußball, Spieler' usw. as if I was a first-year learner. I got frustrated because it wrecks my self-esteem when I listen but can't understand even the basic gist of a sentence of German.
But then, i looked at her lips. All of a sudden, I understand what's she talking about. Granted, she's talking so fast she's mumbling, but I can follow along.
I was stunned. I have no background in reading lips. I looked at the lips of the Anchor, the Special Report lady, the Botschafter, the Minister, the Angler etc. etc. and, despite their various ways of talking and advanced/specialist vocabulary, I could follow along, parsing the words and able to make sense of the sentences.
Immediately, I go onto youtube and watch random videos in German - where they're mumbling and talking for native German audience. At first, I look them in the eyes. Result: Kinda follow, still a bit lost. Then, I look at their lips. Result: I follow almost completely, save for idioms/local expressions etc.
I have never been taught this technique, nor have I seen it in any language learning site (I study many languages). It's always, "get out more," or, "watch the news." While those are effective, I have literally made so much progress by watching their lips for five minutes. I assume this will work with other languages - why wouldn't it?
TL;DR If you're having trouble hearing and understanding someone, look at their lips.
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