I sometimes worry about dialects. When I read about how, for example, people in Provence speak French so fast and with so many non-standard variations that it's practically indecipherable for someone trained to speak textbook French, I get nervous. I find that a bit discouraging. I think one of the best things a language learner can do is avoid such thinking. I'm not on my way to Provence (and could very well never be), so why fret over something that may never happen?
Lavender Field of Provence, France
I wonder if it works the other way around; if Provençals understand people who are using standard French. As for the fast talking, that seems to be a problem no matter what language you're learning. One must always learn the phrases 'Répétez, s'il vous plaît' and 'Parlez plus lentement' right off the bat.
One thing that, I think, helps is to practice speaking faster. That seems to get you used to conditions in which you have to think quickly and to get the main gist of the conversation without concentrating on individual words. Also, it goes the other way. Though it's comforting to listen to French spoken at a pace slower than normal conversation, it's not going to help much when you run into a Frenchwoman speaking a mile-a-minute.
A prochaine...
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