Transitioning from subtitles: Why does spoken Amharic sound so different from the script?

I can read the Ge'ez script decently well now, but when I watch Ethiopian dramas, I feel like I’m hearing an entirely different language because of the speed and elision. I want to stop relying on English subtitles, but I’m struggling to parse where one word ends and the next begins. How did you push through this listening plateau?