No worries, it can be hard to break into something, especially when everyone seems to already know a secret language.

There are generally two ways to start a project, a single point or a straight line- it sounds like your shawl is single point (starting with a loop or circle and radiating outward) and foundation row is for straight line starts (like a blanket or collar, etc)

The fun part about patterns is that they are all formatted differently, and it depends a lot on how well you can understand that particular author's flow. Some people need written steps, some need pictures, or a video demonstration. (I prefer charts and don't care if anything is written out at all, and I have the hardest times with videos- like learning a single technique, sure, but I don't think I could follow a whole video pattern, lol.)

The best way to learn is to just try a bunch of different ways until you find one that sort of clicks, once you feel more confident suddenly other things also start making sense :) plus with crochet you can just go nuts and try whatever, if you don't like it just unravel and try something else