Aside from your natural shyness, if you feel nervous when speaking French and french to english, it may be due to a lack of confidence in your abilities. You may feel that you are not good enough with the grammar, vocabulary and/or pronunciation that you learned while attending French courses. And so you have difficulty expressing yourself in French. The obvious solution to this problem is to increase your language competence. In other words, you need to do extra exercises and communicate more often in French with native speakers and with your classmates. Apart from regular activities and exercises, there are other ways to increase your confidence and feel more free to speak French.
French speaking mistakes
First of all, you should understand that most people are indulgent about mistakes in their native language. Imagine that a foreigner addresses you in Russian, do you really think, “what a broken sentence he came up with, everything is in the wrong order, and the verb is used in the wrong form, not to mention the pronunciation”? Or, on the contrary, are you trying to help him formulate his thought, ignoring or mentally correcting mistakes in order to understand what he is trying so hard to understand? – For most of us, the latter is true, since we tend to appreciate the efforts of people that they spend to communicate with us. From experience, it’s safe to say that the French would much rather be spoken to in broken French than be forced to speak in broken English. Therefore, do not let fear prevent you from speaking French, not only in French courses in Minsk, but also in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Thinking through a conversation in French
When you’re about to ask a question or buy a train ticket, think about what you’re going to say and how to say it in French before it’s your turn to speak. Try to anticipate what questions you might be asked and what additional information you might need. This will give you more confidence in your own abilities.
Ability to describe yourself in French
Depending on your interests – current events happening in the world, wine or travel in Alsace, read as many texts in French and english to marathi as possible on these topics and make a list of words and phrases that are most common. Also, if you find that you are too often drawn into discussions on topics such as tennis or movies, then try to learn some words on those topics as well.
Practice French every chance you get
Learning to speak French is like playing the piano or baking bread – the more you do it, the more comfortable you feel and the easier it is for you to find the right words. Join our lesson – our French courses are aimed at removing the fear of speaking a foreign language and teaching you how to communicate with native speakers on an equal footing.