Hi Fleury,

I can relate to a lot of what you wrote. At the same time, I felt incredibly sad that you're not getting to use or enjoy your language skills for fear of making mistakes - when the freedom to make those mistakes is exactly how we learn!

Are you scared that people will make fun of you if you make mistakes? Sure, there are people like that as well out there in the world, but how lame are they! They're probably the ones who never dare take risks because they're afraid of losing face, and then they pretend to be all confident while taking their inability to accept their own vulnerability out on others.

I'm glad you're not one of these people! No, you've identified a problem and are seeking help

In my experience, most people won't correct you when you speak their language that's foreign to you. They're happy as long as they get the meaning. However, since you're interested in learning the language, you could tell them this is your goal and that you'd love it if they could correct you if you make mistakes. You could even say you're afraid of making mistakes but you really want to learn! Just yesterday, I had a talk with my therapist who said that admitting to an emotion immediately takes away half of the power of that emotion while denying it only makes it stronger.

Good luck! I hope you can start to feel better soon!