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Are you shy about speaking? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6785 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 1 of 50 22 August 2009 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Speaking has always been the weakest aspect of any language to me. Originally, with English, it took a long long time to get fluent for real, despite reading and writing at a level far above that. Then with French, where I never mastered the grammar, I would never speak outside of class because I felt so pathetic about it. And I didn't want to be one of those people who make lots of mistakes in their speech and seem to be careless/oblivious about it.
But beyond that, the problem is the interaction. Even if I can say something correctly, I fear the response will come back in a form I don't understand and what then. After all, there's a pretty wide gap between reading and listening, dialects and accents thrown into the mix. I'm sure that kind of thinking is quite detrimental though, but merely knowing that doesn't make it go away. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| healing332 Senior Member United States Joined 5622 days ago 164 posts - 211 votes | Message 2 of 50 22 August 2009 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think you have hit on a point that I have continually made. Those who do not speak are afraid. Actually it is all ego and pride. We say we do not want to sound stupid but this is just pride. I speak Svenska all the time when I meet swedish people. We always have great conversations and I ask questions about my pronounciation( i am also very outgoing and this helps)
The very educated often carry a lot ego and often cannot laugh at themselves or life. I travel a lot in my occupation and this week i met a great swedish couple ..we laughed ..and had fun with the language. They were shocked that i have only been studying this language for 7 weeks Here is a link that i posted before that shows you MUST speak for the brain to learn the language http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=fa/seco nd-language3 You can study a language all you want by reading..writing...movie watching and more but speaking is the "REAL DEAL" do not make the mistake of so many by waiting to speak. Remove the ego and have fun..it is only a language not eternal salvation Edited by healing332 on 22 August 2009 at 9:21pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Rhoda Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5602 days ago 166 posts - 196 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, Swahili, Ancient Greek, German | Message 3 of 50 22 August 2009 at 9:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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It depends...
I do most of my French-speaking in a classroom. If I feel like I have something to say regarding the book we're studying, I'm very eager to speak. If, however, everything I had been thinking about has already been said, then I hate it when the professor calls on me and I have to make something up and hope it sounds good. I do like speaking French with my friends & siblings, but sometimes I get very shy when I'm visiting with my French teachers from middle or high school. I think it has something to do with not wanting to let them down. As for Swahili--I'm dying to find someone to speak to!! I did have a brief Swahili phone conversation with someone, but I find it more difficult to converse on the phone in a language I am just beginning. French would probably be alright, but for some reason, there's a sort of barrier for a new language. Still, when I was really concentrating it went fine! Edited by Rhoda on 22 August 2009 at 9:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 4 of 50 22 August 2009 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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You learn to speak a language by speaking it. Anyway, speaking personally, I have a somewhat thick skin which is getting thicker as I get older, and I discount other people's reactions, though I don't ignore them entirely.
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5768 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 5 of 50 22 August 2009 at 11:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes. When I'm still really bad at a new language, it means that native or fluent speakers have to invest a lot into our communication. To me, that means that either I exploit the friendliness of that person or am indebted to them, which means that in the very least they have the right to expect fast progress of me. And I do not make fast progress. :'(
I am not inhibited like this when speaking to my current teacher, other learners, small children or strangers (when it's not meant to establish a relationship, but to ask a local for information e.g.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ruan Diglot Groupie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6183 days ago 95 posts - 101 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English | Message 6 of 50 23 August 2009 at 12:26am | IP Logged | ||
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If I'm around monolinguals I feel awkward and words just won't come out of my mouth very
well. But whenever I'm among natives it just flows, and I get tongue-tied only when I'm out of vocabulary. Anyway, if you speak slowly, you haven't listened/read enough; if you speak clumsy, you haven't practiced enough. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Aeroflot Senior Member United States Joined 5604 days ago 102 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 50 23 August 2009 at 1:57am | IP Logged | ||
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The only time I get really shy is when people put me on the spot and don't talk to me in the language, like last week when this Swedish lady asked what I knew in German. -Well I know lots, but talk to me and it will come out. heh.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5925 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 8 of 50 23 August 2009 at 6:00am | IP Logged | ||
I get this too, and in Mexico it sometimes takes a lot for them to believe a foreigner can speak Spanish let alone a few more languages on top of that. I keep myself to myself nowadays but word has got out that I'm teaching French so no doubt I'll be asked to 'prove it' sometime soon... yawn. Or they ask you to say some obscure, Mexican cultural word in another language then when you can't produce it, base their judgment of your language skills on that. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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