We have many ways to say simple things. Even simple things there are many ways to say. The simple thins that we say have so many ways to say them. The many ways we say things can be simple. Then we can choose other words and start all over... The sentences we string together are often made of common words. Typical jargon are often the basis of our sentences that may be organized in many ways.... shall I continue? The amount of words and amount of ways that sentences can be arranged give a non native speaker a challenge. Each person has typical ways of arranging words specific to them. Therefore, I bet if you speak with the same person for a long period(s) you should begin to understand that individual better with time.

It's easier to get frustrated but don't worry about it, just continue listening and learning more and more and you will overcome. Sometimes even when I understand 90 % english, they're a few accents that are hardly to comprehend, But if you really want to overcome easily and quickly Listen to real english, engange in conversations with native people, watch movies, listen to the radio or podcasts. This is a very normal issue but you will overcome and improve, I trust in you. Good luck:)

Don't worry. You are not alone. My boyfriend is British. Sometimes I have no idea what he's talking about. There are several reasons for that. One of the most common problems is that he often changes topics unexpectedly. So I'm still thinking about one topic and he's already talking about something else. There might also be misunderstanding when he assumes that I know something but I actually don't. Once he was telling me a story and I could not understand what it was about. I kept asking questions and he got a bit frustrated. The reason why I could not understand the story was that the situation described was not common for Russia. The story involved some british tradition that I'd never heard of and my boyfriend didn't explain it to me because he assumed I'd known it. Finally, it can be difficult to make sense of what native speakers say if they talk about something that is not often discussed in your culture or you don't know much about. For example, a film you've never seen or a friend you've never heard of. You might understand all the words but can't make sense of them simply because you don't have any background information. Anyway, I think it's perfectly OK not to understand something as long as you have a chance to ask questions :)

In my opinion, I think it's mostly because of their idioms. They have A LOT which makes understanding English extra difficult. Try reviewing on American idioms. :)

A lot of it comes down to recognition of the phrase. Perhaps the problem is that you're reading the phrase too closely (literally) to find the proper meaning. The other matter is - believe it or not - you shouldn't be listening to every word you hear!! We have a rhythm in our speaking patterns where the important parts are highlighted. I've demonstrated this in a few classes, where I write a long sentence then erase all the words which have a weak accent. The keywords are still there.