7 Efficient Tips to Overcome Your Fear of Speaking French with Native Speakers

Speaking French can be an intimidating challenge for people who start learning the language. You have memorized vocabulary, studied grammar and then comes the litmus test: you meet a native speaker.

You are excited and nervous to practise «in real life» what you have learned so far but as you try to speak your new language, your brain has a black out and you suddenly stop mid-sentence, unable to go forward. Why?

It’s all the fault of a language learner’s worst enemy: the fear of making mistakes! One of the biggest barriers that prevents many language learners from practising and improving their language is fear.

Here are some tips to avoid switching back to your native language. Read on to discover our top 6 tips on how to overcome your fear of speaking French and other foreign languages.

1: Understand Your Anxiety

The scenario described above happens to almost everyone who tries to learn a new language at some point. When you freeze the moment you start a sentence, your brain is shutting down just by the fact that you come out of your confort zone. It is often a downwards spiral: you can start feeling insecure and your speech becomes more unclear and grammatically incorrect. Anxiety reduces your brain’s ability to get on with its normal tasks properly, such as processing language in real time.

With the added complexity of using a new vocabulary and grammar, you may feel your brain just stopping to function. In situations such as this one, a lot of people give up their studies.

Fear is a lot of what sets adult and young language learners apart. Why do children learn a language seemingly so easily? They are naturally curious and enjoy learning new things without being afraid of making mistakes.

2: Accept to Make Mistakes



You will never speak a language fluently without speaking a broken version of it first! Initially, you should know that most people are forgiving of mistakes in their native language. People are generally grateful that you make an effort to speak their language.

The sooner you start talking, the sooner you will reach a conversational level. It may be frustrating to feel like you are making mistakes, but this will ultimately be outweighed by the reward of using the language long-term.

My recommendation might sound curious to you: I suggest you to embrace your mistakes! You will get a much better response if you approach the conversation with a tolerance regarding your potential errors. I am of course not encouraging you not to correct them but rather just accept them as they are as they correspond to one step in the learning process.  

  3: Grab any Opportunity to Speak French



Many of the same conversations will come up again and again in everyday life. If you are dining out at a restaurant, getting drinks in a bar or going shopping, most interactions follow a similar pattern. If you are lacking confidence in the language you are learning, these conversations should be your first step. Stay first on safe routes before moving on longer interactions.

Even outside of these highly scripted encounters, when native speakers find out you are learning their language, they will probably ask you where you are from. These informal conversations will help to boost your confidence so you can move onto broader topics.

4: Don’t be a Control Freak



Speaking in French can be scary for some people who are shy or who controls themselves too much. Speaking a language is much more than a way to communicate: it is part of our identity; our voice, our laugh, the choice of our words, the construction of our sentences reveals a lot about our personality.

When you speak French, you are losing a part of that identity. It is sometimes difficult to accept to sound shy when you are rather self confident, silly when you are quite bright, humorless when you are a joker in your native language.  It is a very humbling experience, and all foreign language speakers go through it. And we all have to overcome this unconfortable situation.

5: Practice Speaking French Regularly With an Actual Person

You now find numerous online resources, apps, podcasts to learn French. All of them can be very efficient to build up your vocabulary, learn grammatical structures, memorize colloquial expressions etc, but nothing, absolutely nothing, will replace human interaction when it comes to languages.

It’s a good thing to be able to speak French to your cat in your living-room. It’s an entirely different process to speak French to a stranger in a restaurant. With human interactions another point is at stake: emotion that directly communicates interferes with certain areas of your brain. In order to get over your fear of speaking French, you need to practise with human beings (online or in person).

When a group of native speakers get together, the conversation will usually speed up and become more difficult to understand. One-on-one conversations are easier. Private lessons are a way to ensure you get this experience, while also benefiting from input from an expert. At French à La Carte we are specialized in teaching French with lessons on a one to one basis only.

6: Practise your French in a Reassuring Environment

An important point is trying to practise French in relaxed environment that will help you feel confident, safe and to use the verbal language at your best. If you are a shy person, try to interact with one person and not a group of people which would increase your apprehension.

At French à La carte teaching French in a positive, supportive and encouraging environment has always beeen one of our core values.

7: Use Simple Words and Verbal Constructions

When our students start to speak French, they sometimes would like to express the same ideas they would naturally do in their native language. This is a common mistake. Students tend to start long and complex sentences and realise at half-way that they miss vocabulary and verbs to get through to the end of it. They stop mid-sentence, start feeling insecure and switch back to their native language.

My recommendation is whatever you would like to say and especially if you are at a beginner, elementary or low intermediate level (A1, A2, B1), to use simple words and not complex verbal constructions. You can even do two or more easy sentences to express one idea. Structuring your idea and your sentence before speaking is key.