[romaaeterna]

I've done it or some variation with German, Latin, Japanese, Norwegian, and Russian.

My method is to listen is small chunks (like a paragraph or so), a bunch of times, and gradually expand the length.

> I can't see how I could pick up the meaning without some reference, unless I was extremely familiar with the material.

You would be surprised at how good you are at it. The human brain is built for picking up a language from scratch by listening, and human languages are similarly built for being acquired in this way.

[bayesian_horse]

I'm still a bit confused of how one is supposed to decipher a Language like Japanese or Chinese without any reference. I certainly was never able to do it.

Only after years of studying more theoretically am I able to learn new words from context.

[romaaeterna]

> without any reference

The "reference" comes from knowing the stories in English first. And also the reader's voice acting, etc.

[topmonk]

Well, sounds good, then. I'll give it a shot, thanks.