I've been in Denmark for almost 2,5 years, so by now most of my survival tactics are getting obsolete, but rather than stare bleakly at the wealth of incomprehensible mails and wasting time I didn't have, I used to print them out at intervals and have tea/lunch/chocolate/liquorice... with a Danish colleague, neighbour or passer-by to get a sense of what mattered and what didn't. Most people are much more comfortable supplying informal oral translations cum commentary than written ones, and taking interlinear notes during those talks helped my Danish, too. I've never been turned down when I asked for help; at worst, I had to wait a little while. I remember how hard it was (still is at times) to keep taking this initiative again and again, and insisting on the details and repetitions needed, but it was fun, too. Often the problem was not so much the words on the page but a missing prehistory, and the talks ended up supplying more info than a formal translation would have. Certainly beats Google Translate!