Foreign-language speaking fear...advice?

Rose Immortal

Rose Immortal

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Since you guys have a nice off-topic forum, I thought I'd go ahead and ask...

I have been out of studying my second language, Spanish, for several months now. I don't have time for formal study, but I do have the occasional opportunity to practice with native speakers.

But then I wind up with the problem I had for all 8 years of study: when I go to open my mouth, I am TERRIFIED. I'm not normally afraid of public speaking beyond the usual little bit of nervousness that goes away after I get started. But for this, I'm talking about bad, physical fear. Wanting to run away.

It's really frustrating because I know I need to practice so I don't lose my 8 years' worth of study...but I just freeze. I end up speaking English just to make the fear stop. It's kind of embarrassing...help?
 
The same thing happens to me... I know japanese and asl, and for the first 4.5 years that I was studying japanese, I never talked to a native speaker! My teacher was an american, so I only talked to him and other students in the class. I eventually started talking to japanese people, and don't have that problem anymore. It also helped that I took a vacation to japan by myself. As for asl, that is a different story, since not all deafies sign. That is why I am so skeptical to sign with deafies that I don't know, since some deafies don't use asl, they will use pse, see, or whatever else. Not to mention, not all deaf people are fluent in signing, or they could be completely oral and not even sign! Plus, you might get the bad apple of the barrel, so you never know. I don't know if I will ever come completely out of that box...
 
tegumi said:
The same thing happens to me... I know japanese and asl, and for the first 4.5 years that I was studying japanese, I never talked to a native speaker! My teacher was an american, so I only talked to him and other students in the class. I eventually started talking to japanese people, and don't have that problem anymore. It also helped that I took a vacation to japan by myself.
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I don't have the ASL experience so I can't comment on that part...but would you say part of what made the difference was that you were put into a situation where you were forced to use the language?

If you aren't in a situation where it's a matter of necessity...like if you can't travel to that country...then any ideas on how to deal with the nerves so that you don't get out of practice?
 
When I was living in Germany, it was after three years of German in high school, and meeting with my German friends when they visited in the US. It was no problem for me to try and communicate with Germans in Germany. When I went to France, I had a little hard time to communicate in French but I just said to them that I am an American, and that they would have to excuse my French. They were very helpful with me to communicate in French and LSF.

However, I am trying my damnest to learn Vietnamese, but I always get a mental block when I am trying to think of something in Vietnamese. My SO is Vietnamese and his family speaks Vietnamese. So, I get kind of scared when trying to write in Vietnamese because of all the weird accents over the vowels, if I use the wrong accent, it could mean something entirely different. If I was hearing, I might pick up the language much faster because everyone is speaking it here, but since I am deaf, it's rather difficult.

What is killing my motivation to study Vietnamese is that I have started studying another language: Norwegian! I plan to go to Norway next summer, so I have been studying some Norwegian and it seems to be going well for me. It's not similar but somewhat similar to German anyhow. My only problem when it comes to Norwegian is that there are too few people speaking the language, so I don't have enough opportunities to find anyone to practise my Norwegian with.
 
I forgot to mention that I have been reading various newspapers in order to practise my knowledge of certain languages, such as www.tagesschau.de for German, www.liberation.fr for French, www.dagbladet.no for Norwegian, etc... It's a bit hard to read, but after a while you get used to it.

I know in Yahoo they do have groups where people share in different languages. I subscribe to a Norwegian newsgroup where they discuss about the Norwegian language. It's pretty slow but its helpful though!
 
When KootchieBootchie visited me, I was mighty impressed when he caught on the LSQ signing because a French speaking & LSF signing woman was telling a rather funny joke in LSF, Kootchie knew the punchline way before I did!
 
kuifje75--Good advice about the reading, to help me not forget my grammar and vocabulary. Eventually I'm gonna have to learn how to speak Spanish aloud without having a nervous breakdown, though. Big reason: I'm putting it on my resume, that I have a degree in it...and if someone decides to test me in an interview, I will be S-C-R-E-W-E-D if I have my little speech-block then.
 
Cookie Monster said:
When KootchieBootchie visited me, I was mighty impressed when he caught on the LSQ signing because a French speaking & LSF signing woman was telling a rather funny joke in LSF, Kootchie knew the punchline way before I did!
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LMAO! It was a French joke, so one would have had to know French to get the joke.

Here is the joke:

A couple gets married. Here is the pattern for their sex live: "MMS"

At the age of 20:
M: Matin (morning)
M: Midi (lunch/afternoon)
S: Soir (evening)

At the age of 40:
M: Mardi (Tuesday)
M: Mercredi (Wednesday)
S: Samedi (Saturday)

At the age of 60:
M: Mars (March)
M: Mai (May)
S: Septembre (September)

LOL
 
ROFL!! :lol: That's the joke, KootchieBootchie!! Remember the deafies, especially a few like Marco and the one that signed "danger" in MSL had a perplexed look? Ohhh that gal was so prim and proper, kept saying "Oh my, dirty joke!"
 
LMAO, I remember the gal from Halfax, who would clap her hands (that is the sign for "danger" in MSL!).

Anyway, Rose, why not find some friends who you can speak with in Spanish? I'm sure there are plenty of Spanish speaking people living around you.
 
kuifje75 said:
Anyway, Rose, why not find some friends who you can speak with in Spanish? I'm sure there are plenty of Spanish speaking people living around you.
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Probably so, I'm near a fairly large city. Now I wonder...who would know where there are people willing to chat with me?
 
Rose, I am doing the same thing, learning Spanish. The only chance I get to try it is at our Mexican restaurant. I have messed up a couple of times, but the speakers there were good enough to tell me how to say it correctly (it's hard to learn anything without messing up). Don't be afraid of being "wrong." It's like learning to walk: sometimes you fall on your rear, but you keep trying. Even if you say something wrong, the native speakers take it as a compliment that you are trying to speak their language. Have courage (you have a whole message board of friends supporting you), and keep trying!
:applause:
 
We have a Mexican restaurant here that's mostly staffed by native Spanish speakers. I have wanted to try there very badly, but you're exactly right: I am afraid of being wrong. I don't want to sound stupid or uneducated.
 
Do you have a local community college or school with a population who speaks Spanish or classes in Spanish? Adult education classes? Maybe you can contact someone there and talk with a Spanish teacher to see where the best place for you to go to to practise the Spanish language?
 
A piece of good news...I recently got an unexpected opportunity to practice Spanish--at a Greek restaurant!

Our waiter came up and I noticed he had a bracelet that said "Colombia", so I started speaking Spanish. He was very surprised and happy, and we actually managed to have a little conversation. What was even better was, I tend to do best with South Americans because that's where my first Spanish teachers were from, and I could understand him perfectly. :)

By the time he left, though, my face and ears felt like they were on fire and I was bright red. It felt like the temperature had gone up 50 degrees in the room! So I've still got a long way to go before I conquer the fear, but I would like to let you guys know, your encouragement helped--I was thinking of you when I decided to give it a try.
 
kuifje75 said:
What is killing my motivation to study Vietnamese is that I have started studying another language: Norwegian! I plan to go to Norway next summer, so I have been studying some Norwegian and it seems to be going well for me. It's not similar but somewhat similar to German anyhow. My only problem when it comes to Norwegian is that there are too few people speaking the language, so I don't have enough opportunities to find anyone to practise my Norwegian with.
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You'll definitely get plenty of opportunities to use your Norwegian when you're in Norway! ;) I think you're doing just fine with the learning. We all never stop learning, anyway. Det går bra! (It's good!)

Thinking in this vein, Rose - if it wasn't said before, drop yourself smack in middle of Spain or South America.. you'd be forced to use what you know ;) Then you might get more confidence. Geez, I took a year of Spanish.. and I know so little. There's that next World Federation for the Deaf conference in Spain ... hmmmm.... an opportunity for me to improve my Spanish?
 
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