💬 Couldn't follow fast meetings in Germany for my first year

My German was fine for daily life when I moved to Frankfurt. Groceries, neighbours, small talk at the coffee machine. Meetings were a different thing. Once 4 or 5 people started building on each other's points, I was gone. I'd lose the thread in about 3 exchanges and then just sit there nodding, guessing where the talk was going. By the time I had translated my answer in my head, they were 3 topics ahead. This went on for almost a year. Sometimes someone would ask me for my opinion, out of politeness I think. It felt like being called on in school. I'd give 1 short sentence and everyone would move on. Nobody was unkind about it. That's the odd part. I just disappeared in the room. My laptop notes from those meetings are mostly half sentences and question marks. A colleague I eat lunch with told me recently she always thought I was a quiet person. She had no idea I was working that hard just to keep up in real time. I laughed when she said it, then went home and felt a bit sick. A year of effort looked like personality. She wasn't being rude. Why would she guess? I never said anything. Now it's almost 2 years and it's much better. I catch the flow, I jump in, I even interrupt sometimes. But that first year messed with how I saw myself at work. I started doubting my actual skills. It was just the language, and my code was the same code as before. So that was my first year. I'm fine in meetings now, and sometimes I even interrupt people.