For some students this is the most difficult obstacle to overcome. Some languages have no word boundaries in spoken speech, which means that words seem to run together into one big work, making it difficult to sort things out. Your listening comprehension should improve if you are speaking the works yourself as often as possible. Again, don’t listen to tapes for two hours straight but in short blocks of time.
You will not be able to list hard for that long of a time period. If you are really struggling, your instructor can probably supply you with a tape script so that you can follow along. You can use the script to help you associate the sound with the written word. Make sure that you don’t come to rely on the script. There are many resources on campus for extra language listening and practice. The Language Resource Center has international news shows and videos.
The Residential College has language lunch table and conversation hours. Romance Languages runs conversation groups. Check with your respective departments to see what is available. Rent movies with subtitles. To really challenge yourself, cover the subtitles.