In German, we frequently encounter complex compound nouns that are formed from several other nouns. It is not always necessary to immediately turn to a dictionary to understand their meaning.
Here I will suggest several strategies for discovering the meanings of such nouns in unfamiliar texts.
When you encounter such a word, ask yourself whether you would understand the text without knowing the meaning of that particular word. If your answer is 'Yes', continue reading. If the answer is 'No', then a new strategy follows.
Try to understand the meaning from the context. The context contains a lot of information about the word you don't understand. For example:
'Sie kaufen im Geschäft eine rote Esoh. Die Esoh war ihr etwas zu lang, aber sie hatte 15 Euro gekostet'.
You understand that 'Esoh' is a noun in the feminine gender and that it means something that is worn and purchased. (Hose)
The next strategy is to consider whether the unknown word is not international and whether we have encountered it in another foreign language as well.
If the word is composed of several other words, think about whether you understand the meaning of any of the component words.
The next step is to recall whether the word is not derived from one that you already know. You will certainly understand the meaning of the word 'Wortbildungskenntnisse',if the word 'Wortbildung'' is already familiar to you.
If none of the suggested strategies lead to discovering the meaning of that word, open the dictionary and check the individual component words.
Good luck!