Thanks for your words of support and advise Pam.
for me it was easier to learn by reading it first. might not work for you, but best of luck, its a difficult language.
I find the same, if I read a word or phrase first I have a better chance of understanding it when someone says it. It doesn't work the other way around for me, if they say something it just sounds jumbled to me and I don't even know how many words are in the sentance.