Hello again.
I had some weeks with a lot of work due to new responsibilities, these new tasks include to go meetings in English and some of them required that I had to speak in English. Although, I consider that my English level is enough when I need to talk I feel uncomfortable. Before in other experiences, I just talked the necessary, but now, when I need to speak in front of my chiefs and native people, really I feel panic and fear. Believe me that I read many times about these fears trying to follow the advice, my friends say me that I should not worry and just think to talk. When I thought about which is the problem, I discovered that the problem is me, I'm my worst enemy. When I made an error, automatically I was frozen, I lost the idea, my tongue was paralyzed and I started to translate Spanish to English with an eternity pause.
But, leaving the lamentations, I would like to generate a change, focus on improve and continue working to achieve fluency. I would like to know if you in your learning journey, had similar feelings and what it was the way to overcome these fears.
I believe that your comments could be a huge help to continue in my fluency way. For now, I focus on learning more vocabulary, study connectors, and read out loud.
Best,
Speaking a foreign language is so hard! But I always think about people whose mother tongue is not English. When they speak to me, they make mistakes, but as long as I understand what they are saying, I don't really notice the mistakes. That's how other people hear you, too. The more you practice, the better you get!
I think it's completely normal to feel that way. Try to keep reading and listening to a variety of content you find every day, and slowly but surely you'll improve and you'll find English comes more naturally to you!
thanks a lot !!
I feel that way all the time! I can speak Spanish fluently with my husband because I am comfortable around him. But when I try to speak to other people, I freeze up, forget words, and make mistake after mistake. I think the only way to get through it is to just keep practicing and keep putting yourself in those uncomfortable situations.