7 Great Ways to Overcome Foreign Language Anxiety
Many people who are learning another language may come across anxiety. Worry about their language abilities and if they are good enough. Sometimes this anxiety is so powerful that we hold ourselves back from doing everyday things.
From your rapid heart beating out of your chest to stuttering on your words — it will and it can get better, but how?
Here are 7 ways that you can overcome your Foreign Language anxiety, one day at a time.
First, let’s take a look at what foreign language anxiety is.
What is Foreign Language Anxiety?
Foreign language anxiety is both a feeling of fear and tension that is connected with learning another language. This can be a big problem as it can keep you away from reaching your language learning goals and living a normal life (if you are living abroad).
In 1986 the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (or FLCAS) was developed. It theorised 3 models: communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. However, a study in 1994 revealed that there is a 4th model which in 2007 remodelled to include: anxiety in foreign language classes.
There are 3 main causes why people may experience foreign language anxiety.
- Having a negative experience/experiences in the language.
- Unrealistic or wrong beliefs about the language you are learning. Thinking that you are not ‘gifted’ at learning languages, or feeling like you haven’t achieved the progress/level that you have.
- Putting standards too high and aiming (or expecting) to be perfect and fearing making mistakes
How Do I Know If I Have Foreign Language Anxiety?
Are you afraid to speak and believe that you aren’t good enough to communicate? Do you try to avoid talking to others? Do you panic if you need to talk?
If you answered “yes” to any of these, then you most likely suffer from a form of Foreign Language Anxiety. Remember you are not alone, scientists have found that 1 in 3 foreign language learners experience at least some level of anxiety.
The good news is, it can and will get better!
What can you do today to help with this anxiety?
1. Don’t Be Afraid To Make Mistakes
For a lot of people it is the fear of making mistakes and always striving to be perfect that can provoke anxiety. The best way to really learn a language is to start using it and by making mistakes you learn from them, and you get better and better every time that you try.
Making mistakes is part of learning a language, as nerve-wracking as it may sound, allow yourself to make them. Don’t react to the mistakes, unless you feel the need to, you can just explain that you are learning and a lot of people will be respectful in that regard. They may even ask where you are from, out of curiosity and they may not even know how to speak your language or not be the best at speaking it.
There may be some mistakes that are so small that people don’t even notice or realise. Believe it or not, but a lot of native language speakers make mistakes too! You may make them yourself in your native language.
Laugh at the mistake you made, even if you’re the only one laughing, and then either correct or excuse yourself, rather than letting the anxiety take over.
As soon as you allow yourself to make mistakes, and not panic over them, the better you will feel and progress with learning a language.
We aren’t built to be perfect, nor should we strive to be. We should only strive to be the best versions of ourselves.
2. Take Small Steps
“If you concentrate on small, manageable steps you can cross unimaginable distances.” — Shaun Hick
Taking small and manageable steps can indeed lead to bigger leaps. It may feel hard at the beginning, but we’ve all had to take small steps to reach our goals, no matter what the goals are/were.
Start with 1-on-1 conversations with those you know, or create an account at sites like italki and find a teacher for a 1-on-1 lesson. If you don’t know anyone who speaks the language you’re learning, sites like Tandem and look for people to start talking and practising with.
Even if you just created an account, good on you! Remember small steps first!
Reward yourself for the efforts that you have made, even as simple as they may seem, like talking on a phone (which can be very nerve-wracking!) or going alone somewhere, like to a doctor or in a shopping centre/store.
This is how you can build up your confidence and realise that it isn’t as scary or horrible as anxiety makes it out to be. You can do that! you can order that coffee at a bakery, you can ask if they have a specific book, and you can do anything that you set your mind to do.
Even if it feels a little scary and overwhelming, the more you do it, the better it will get. Always give yourself time to recover and always praise yourself for your efforts.
3. Prepare and Practice
You will come across many different situations if you are living in the country of the language you are learning. Maybe you get sick and need to go to the doctor or, enrol in a language course, talking on the phone, in these cases, you will need to communicate.
“What do I say_? “How do I say_?” A lot of what you can find is on the internet or YouTube. Things like “How to make an appointment on the phone” or “How to make a reservation in _”. You can look up phrases for certain themes like, at the doctors, and healthcare are also good ways to help!
The great thing about videos is, that you can hear, and maybe see how the person pronounces the word. Why not mimic what the person is saying to help your pronunciation and help you remember what to say? What else is great is that this can help to both build up your confidence and your vocabulary.
Write some notes down to help you practice later, make a playlist of the videos and play them through regularly! Always remember the small steps!
4. Stay Positive and Change the Negative
This may be harder than it sounds, but changing how you talk to yourself can do wonders for building your confidence and self-esteem. For a lot of us, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to putting ourselves down and speaking badly about ourselves.
A lot of us go through some time in our lives when we may think things like: “They were rather short and blunt with me, is it because of my accent?” or “I should be fluent by now”. These are a form of negative self-talk and negative thinking as well as many other forms that PsychCentral covers.
Once you realise and acknowledge the negative thoughts and self-talk, train yourself to change and flip the negative to a positive. Maybe the person you thought was short and blunt with you just had a bad day? you don’t know what’s happening in their private life and they don’t know what’s happening in yours.
If you think that you should be fluent in your target language since you’ve been living and learning for 2 years? You will become fluent in your own time, you didn’t learn your native language in 2 years, did you?
The term “fluent” differs for everyone, what fluency means to you, means something very different to someone else.
There is no set time for fluency, in fact when you learn a language, you learn it for life. Just as you may learn new things in your native language, like a new word for example.
Once you train your way of viewing yourself more positively and speaking nicely to yourself, you will see a different you.
If you want to learn how to become more confident, here are 13 great tips to help build up your confidence. Not only for learning a language but for general well-being.
Change Your Learning Methods
There is no such thing as the ‘best way’ to learn a language, this differs for everyone. Mix up how you learn and practice your target language, maybe try to read a chapter of a book. Or watch a film in the language with or without subtitles?
Set time to try to practice all the fundamentals of a language. Today try to practice speaking, even if you are talking to yourself or mimicking a video on YouTube. This all contributes to bettering your speaking skills, regardless of how you learn and practice.
When reading a book, highlight (if this is your own book!) a word that you may not understand. Write the word down and look up the word in a dictionary, or find similar words that mean the same (synonyms) — This can build your vocabulary and grammar!
Find Anxiety Coping Methods
Sometimes our anxiety is what gets in our way of pursuing our goals and living a happier, calmer life. This anxiety may worsen when you are living abroad and learning the language, this is a lot more common than you think.
If going to a therapist isn’t ideal at the moment, don’t worry there are many sites out there like BetterHelp and Talkspace that can help! With sites like these, you can better match with a licensed therapist and chat with them online. Either via chat sessions, video calls or other forms of communication.
Find things that help you reduce the effects of anxiety and stress like meditation, yoga, writing in a journal to even chewing gum. No matter how silly it may sound to others, if it works for you, use it!
Give Yourself Time
Learning a language isn’t a race or a sprint, but a lifelong marathon, we all learn in different ways and at our own pace. When there is a specific topic that you are struggling with, give yourself time to practice and go over it until you understand.
You will get it eventually, just don’t give up.
Set yourself time to practice daily, ideally, an hour and as much as possible, but do give yourself breaks and free days! Even 20 minutes a day is better than none!
Conclusion
As draining as anxiety can be, there are many ways that you can help to tackle it in your own place and own ways.
It may feel like a slow process but it is achievable! Believe in yourself, you got this.
Keep going!
“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop” — Confucius
If you enjoy what you’ve read please consider leaving me a tip.
Looking for a skilled content writer? I am currently open to full-time or part-time opportunities. You can reach out to me directly through my Linktree.
