No matter how well you know a language, you can’t communicate with anyone if you’re afraid to use it.

While it might not seem like this has anything to do with language learning, this is a problem that affects a lot of people. Even me!

For a long time, I was afraid to speak the languages I was learning. I still have trouble getting the courage to speak in certain situations or with certain people. It isn’t something that I got over immediately, but I’ve slowly improved over several years.

In my case, I was afraid of one thing: making mistakes.

I felt that if I made a mistake something terrible would happen. I don’t know what, but something terrible. People would laugh. Or they would think I said something embarrassing or stupid. Maybe the world would explode!

But being anxious or uncomfortable will simply make your language ability worse, increasing the likelihood that you’ll make a mistake. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How did I get over it? By making a ton of mistakes! The more I made myself speak, the more mistakes I made. And you know what? Nothing bad happened! Everything was fine.

My first year spent in USA helped increase my confidence more than anything else. I was forced to speak. At first, I was very nervous in government offices. But I had no choice.

Now I’m a master of the tax office (Urząd skarbowy), immigration office (Urząd spraw cudzoziemskich), city hall (Urząd miasta) and social security (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych).

Recording videos of myself speaking in English has helped a lot too. In every video I make several mistakes and I notice them while listening to them.

Not everyone can travel to the country where their target language is spoken. And being forced to speak can be a pretty bad experience in itself.

So here is what I recommend:

❀ Find one person you are comfortable speaking with in your target language (ex. your spouse, friend, a good teacher, etc).

❀ Create the most comfortable situation possible (ex. in your home with a cup of herbal tea).

❀ Talk with them as much as you can!

❀ You will make mistakes – and that’s ok! You’ll soon see that nothing bad happens and you’ll learn to be less afraid.

For me, I’m more comfortable talking to other non-native speakers, meaning people who are also learning the language. Of course, you’ll want to talk to native speakers eventually, but you have to start somewhere.

Good luck and please share your suggestions with us:)

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)