Everyone knows that learning a new language is like a great challenge. Nowadays, people have a lot of various ways to do it: they can learn it using special books and online courses, or work with a personal tutor from a reliable company like Preply. There are also a lot of methods for learning. Our world with many new technical improvements gives us great opportunities every day, so you can choose your own way to learn a new tongue.
Most people feel fine when they are learning a new language: they know there is no learning without making mistakes. But there are other people who usually afraid to make mistakes and feel too shy to use their new language. For them, it’s very difficult to overcome their shyness and fears. In this article, we will share several hints on how to overcome this barrier and why you should speak a new language even if you feel afraid and shy.
Pretend that nobody is around you
Usually, you have to speak a new language when there are a lot of people around: for example, you arrived in a foreign country and must ask people how to get somewhere. For shy people, it’s a difficult situation: they may feel scared someone else could hear them and notice they pronounced a word wrong. Or what if nobody will understand them? This is horrible! If this is about you, then try to imagine nobody else can hear what you’re saying instead of a person you’re talking to.
Stop worrying about mistakes
Of course, for many people speaking with foreigners is like torture because they feel scared to tell something wrong. But nobody will punish you for the wrong pronunciation or even if you used a wrong word! You are not in school and you don’t get any bad or good grades from people you’re talking to. The hardest thing is to start talking without worrying. But if you start practicing, we promise it will be much easier for you to speak a new language without stress.
Find someone to chat together
If you’re learning a new language using online courses and tools on the Internet, it’s great but we assure you it’s also important to talk to real people. You can try to find a good tutor who will correct your pronunciation and other mistakes. A good way is to chat to a foreign friend who will never judge you and help to discover more new words and even idioms. Even for shy people, it’ll be very interesting and funny to practice their new words and phrases in a conversation with a good friend.
Get feedback on your improvements
When you’re speaking with a tutor of a foreign friend, always ask them on feedback. If you’re a responsible person whose aim is to speak better, you will improve earlier or later. Of course, it’s a hard job and you shouldn’t give up because of mistakes. Just keep on trying and believe in your success. Over time, you will feel your improvements, and this is a wonderful feeling when you can be proud of what you did.
Don’t afraid to ask people to repeat
When you’re talking with some foreign people, don’t afraid to ask them to repeat something you don’t understand. Other people will never judge you or laugh on you because of it. Just make sure you have learned phrases like “Please can you repeat again?”, “Can you talk slower please?”, “Excuse me, I don’t speak your language well but I need to ask something, can you help me please?”. Thanks to this, you will be able to understand anything and ask anything you need to know.
Of course, speaking a new language isn’t an easy job but we hope that with our useful tips, you will overcome your fears and learn to speak better. It’s always an exciting challenge and we hope you will turn it into something interesting and funny instead of being scared and shy.