There is a student enrolled in German 101 through Independent Study who has failed the listening portion of the exam twice now because she has a slight hearing impairment. As the most fluent German speaker in the office (and that's not saying much), I was asked to simply listen to the CD and then repeat it, slower and louder, for her. No biggee.
Thank goodness I had the foresight to ask for a copy of the CD to listen to today before she takes the test tomorrow. It's really, really fast, highly idiomatic and slangy, and their grammar has apparently gone to seed. The thing is, I could paraphrase (in English) what they're saying with no trouble, but to actually repeat it in German . . . well, that's another story entirely.
I've been listening to the first minute of the recording over and over for about a half an hour, and I've managed to transcribe it (I think). Three minutes to go, and I'm starting to feel like there's no way I'll be ready for this girl by tomorrow at the beginning of my shift.
Did I mention it's been two years since I last took a German class?