I learned American Sign Language and Spanish as a kid and only ran into problems with speaking Spanish. Living in Los Angeles allowed me to overcome this problem with speaking however it took years and I still find myself saying what I can at times. After going to The Netherlands and living with my girlfriend 3 months at a time, I feel like something is wrong with me. I can read at a decent clip. It’s nothing spectacular but I get The gist. When I watch Dutch TV /movies (without subtitles) I am completely lost. Sure it’s easy to pick up in themes of what is going on and coming up with a general synopsis but that’s not fun. I am normally a pretty easy going person but in social situations I tense up and seem uptight but it’s only because I want to understand and that’s quite embarrassing. I learn something and recheck with my girlfriend and she says “nobody says it like that anymore.” While I am grateful for her help, it’s not productive to learning. I just want to get my point across even if it’s may be dated. On my first trip I became super close to her dog and learned all of the Dutch commands and we got on just fine but that’s not useful for talking to human people. My goal is to have a conversation with her Grandmother (she lived in Germany during WWII and I feel like she would have an interesting take on that time. I’d like to make a recording to give my girlfriend. Any suggestions on what I can do since I live in Los Angeles 9 months at a time?