[IvanEBC]

Yeah, 4 months in and i'm starting to construct some nice sentences (polite -> plain -> te etc) .. can read and write hiragana and katakana.. BUT as soon as i HEAR japanese... i hear the words, i understand the individual words, but it takes a long time for my brain to process the words into a formed sentence and get it translated... by which time, the person has asked 3 other questions and i still have a blank look on my face. Practice will make perfect.

I simply need to be around more japanese native speakers and pick up the speed... will take some time.. still things i listened to at the 1st month and i thought i would never understand, i play back and think it is easy... i think that makes a good way to judge your progress, look back a month later at something you didn't understand.