Don’t Be a Shrinking Violet When You Speak Another Language (Part I)

One of the big worries when you start to learn a second language is that you might feel too intimidated to speak freely. It is true that when I first went to South America I had a habit of turning my statements into questions because I was so unsure of what I was saying. I would also speak in a near whisper which for some reason always brought the name Leonard Cohen to my mind.
When I murmured something like, “I want an empanada?” or “I’ll have more cheese on that?” the person attending in the shop usually got a bit confused, and rightly so. So how can you avoid being a shrinking violet and get your point across better?

Speak Online

When they are taking French courses Nottingham residents might feel very far from French shores. So how do you build up your confidence with the language when you don’t get as much chance to practise it as you would like? The internet is a nice solution these days. There are no accurate figures for the number of people who go online in their second language, or if there are then I can’t find them. However, I can confidently state that the answer is, well, quite a lot really.

Be Someone Else

This is a bit of a weird one to explain but let me try. When you speak a foreign tongue your voice will come out differently. If you do it abroad then you will also be in a place where no one really knows anything about you. This is a great chance to reinvent yourself. I was always a bit shy and retiring in the UK and in Ecuador I decided to come out of my shell and try to be more forward and adventurous. If you are taking German lessons Leeds might not seem like the place to reinvent yourself but then again we all need to find the ideal location to develop and grow.