I'm learning a language now. It's tough and embarrassing, and what it takes to keep getting better seems to change as I move along.
Something that was formative in my understanding of language was visiting Glasgow years past, and realizing that just an "accent" could easily knock me back to understanding only 20-30% of words. Still, based on context it was possible to get around and after a week I was up to 70-80% comprehension with locals.
In North England and Scotland, we pronounce words using short vowel sounds (bath, castle) whereas in the South, they use long vowel sounds (b-are-th, c-are-stle).
Not being able to easily pick out the vowel sounds makes it much harder for a non-native speaker to understand.
The so called "BBC English" that you probably learnt is based on a Southern England 'home counties' pronunciation.
You've got this. Try to remember to record yourself speaking periodically with others so that you can see how much you are improving.
> visiting Glasgow years past
I remember being in Gatwick airport and hearing my first heavily-accented English. Maybe it was a Scottish brogue. I could not really understand anything.
Something that was formative in my understanding of language was visiting Glasgow years past, and realizing that just an "accent" could easily knock me back to understanding only 20-30% of words. Still, based on context it was possible to get around and after a week I was up to 70-80% comprehension with locals.