English for winners: I have trouble understanding native speakers!

But I don't understand spoken English!
OK, before we look at the elements of your learning system we have to clarify one very important issue -- that of understanding spoken English. If you tell the average English leaner to listen to original English language sources (TV channels such as BBC, CNN, NBC or Sky, British and American radio stations, audio books or DVDs) they will look at you in bewilderment. Their response will be: 'How can I listen to English TV or audio books if I don't understand anything? The people in those media speak much too fast for me and they have such strange accents.' Sometimes English learners would even claim that native speakers on CNN or the BBC speak 'slang'. That's ridiculous because most of the time you will hear standard spoken English on those channels. The logic of the average English learner is this: I can't watch CNN or listen to the BBC because the people there speak too fast and with their own accents. That's why I don't watch CNN or listen to the BBC.'

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A winner facing the same situation follows a completely different logic. They think like this: If I don't understand everything when I hear native speakers talk, I must listen more instead of less. There is another fundamental advantage winners have over the average English learner: They know that 'to understand English' means two things. First, understanding English means that you can make out the sound of the words and phrases you hear. So when you listen to somebody speak, you understand them 'phonetically'. Before you can make sense of what you hear, you have to understand the sounds of what you are hearing. You need to expose your ears to the sounds of the English language on a regular basis so they can make out words and phrases. This is an important fact that average English learners frequently miss. They think that they can 'understand' the meaning of words without being able to actually make out those words phonetically.

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What is the definition of "understand"?