How I Overcame My Fear Of Speaking A Foreign Language
Six things I did to overcome my fear of speaking.
It took me some time before I decided to speak to someone in a foreign language. It was a long and difficult path but now it’s much easier and I feel more confident.
Everyone has their own goals for learning a particular language, a desire to speak, and perhaps a dream to become bilingual. However, after studying a certain amount of grammar and words, you’re supposed to start speaking. Nevertheless, you are afraid. You are afraid to make mistakes, say something wrong, mix up words, or be ridiculed.
I went through it too. However, I learned that the sooner you start speaking, the better for you, the faster and better you will learn the language. In this article, I offer several tips that helped me overcome my fear of speaking a foreign language.
1. Motivation
Motivation is what drives people to accomplish their goals. Even polyglots need to be motivated to get good results.
Just three years ago, my motivation was to pass the university entrance exam. This made me use all my strength to begin a routine that consisted in learning a language in the morning and the evening. Every day, I devoted many hours to this. Three months later, I decided to make an acquaintance and started talking to my first foreign friend.
I can say that thanks to overcoming my fear of speaking in a foreign language, I could pass the exam and after one year, I managed to pass to the B2 level.
You need to find what motivates you to learn a foreign language. It can be studying, working, or traveling abroad. Your motivation will make your efforts pay off even more!
2. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
All people make mistakes when they start talking. It’s inevitable. You didn’t start walking immediately. You fell many times, stood up, and then learned.
Most natives understand that the language you’re learning isn’t your first language. Besides, if you learn their language, they will be very happy for you. Even after many years of living in another country with native speakers, many people still make mistakes or speak with an accent.
This is fine. Absolutely.
At first, I could not even build one sentence at all. I didn’t even understand anything. But I didn’t give up and tried again and again. It was damn hard and awkward. But every time I got better and better. Believe me, you will be very proud of yourself after every sentence you say, so don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
3. Don’t try to speak like a native speaker
I was very embarrassed to speak, not only because I had a poor vocabulary, but also because I tried to speak grammatically correctly and quickly. However, in real life, native speakers don’t speak grammatically correctly. Almost never!
Of course, you have to learn the language following grammar rules. This is the basic stuff you should know. But don’t crave perfection. Don’t be hung up on a grammatically correct sentence or on speaking quickly. Just start talking. Sooner or later you will make a mistake. This will happen often in the beginning, but then you’ll be making fewer mistakes.
Even after three years of studying the language every day, I still make grammar mistakes in sentences and can’t speak as fast as native speakers do. Learning from your mistakes will help your make progress faster and better.
4. Find New Friends
As I mentioned above, I found myself a few friends with whom I could speak my target language.
It helped me a lot then, and it helps me now. I found several language exchange apps where I found some new people who were also learning my language. It’s completely free and beneficial. You can choose the language you want to learn and practice your speaking.
At first, you can chat using Google to translate words you don’t understand. You can also send voice messages in the beginning. Then when you’re ready to talk, you can call your friend.
In addition to practicing communication, you will also make new friends and learn about their culture and yours. That is very interesting. It’s definitely worth knowing a foreign language.
5. Consistency
Learning a foreign language — like sports — is systematic.
There should not be long breaks. Any skill can be lost over time. Fortunately, any skill improves with consistency. That is, how often you devote time to an activity. This is very important.
You can attend classes twice a week and talk to someone in that language once a week. However, if you do this more often, you will be surprised at the results. Moreover, the frequency will prevent you from forgetting words or phrases you just learned.
I worked with a tutor five days a week. I did the exercises every day, learned the words, and talked to people every day. And every new week I saw the result. But as soon as I took a break from classes or conversation, my level of knowledge of the language also decreased — I started forgetting words. Therefore, always make time to practice. At least 30 minutes every day.
6. Think in a foreign language
When you are thinking about something, try phrasing it in a different language. Remember the words you need and the grammar. This is a great language practice — it’s just you and no one else.
Once you learn how to formulate a sentence in your head, you will feel more confident in communicating with other people.
I applied this when I started learning a foreign language and have been using it until now. It helps practice and feel more confident. Every time I walk past the table with a vase of flowers, I say to myself, “there is a vase of flowers here”, “Now I am going to the kitchen to make coffee because I love coffee.“ Banal phrases, but very useful for practice. Over time, you will begin to build more complex phrases and later think in this language.
Conclusion
In this article, I have shared my tips on how to overcome the fear of speaking a foreign language. I used to take these tips for myself, and they helped me a lot, and I still use them to this day. I hope you will use at least some of them and be pleasantly surprised with the results.
