The noisy bar test is a great indicator. I moved to English-speaking Vancouver two years ago from Belgium (native Dutch speaker), and even though I was already

The noisy bar test is a great indicator. I moved to English-speaking Vancouver two years ago from Belgium (native Dutch speaker), and even though I was already proficient/fluent in English, I could not follow noisy bar conversations, even when native speakers around me had no problem hearing them. I used to think that maybe something was wrong with my ears. Eventually though, it got better. Constant, daily use of spoken English around me has given me the pattern recognition skills to turn drunken, barely audible slurs into clear words, even over pumping club music ;).