How to Overcome Foreign Language Anxiety

Imagine you're on vacation in Mexico. Your friends decide to throw it out there that you can speak Spanish. Before the plane even took off you rehearsed all of your lines as if you were trying out for the school play. When the moment comes your mind completely goes blank and the nervous laugh follows.

Trying something new is terrifying, we all know that. Because we live in a culture of instant gratification, there's this expectation that you have to be good at something on the first try. Well, we're here to tell you that learning a language doesn't work that way. But don't let that steer you away from trying. We'll show you how to overcome foreign language anxiety.

#1 Embrace the Mistakes

Mistakes are a normal part of life. Where would any of us be without a little adversity? Especially when you're learning a new way to talk you won't be great in the beginning. You'll mispronounce a word, mess up the word order, or make a grammatical mistake. If you learn from your mistakes you will get better.

Our advice: don't learn a foreign language if you aren't willing to mess up a million times before you get it right.

#2 Practice Makes Perfect

This applies everywhere in life. If you want to get better at something, you have to work at it every single day. You can't expect to become a weightlifter by sitting on your couch all day. You have to put in the hours and go to the gym. if you want to become fluent you need to put in as much time and energy as your schedule allows to train those mental muscles. The more you practice, the more confidence you gain!

#3 Patience is Key

Patience goes hand in hand with the idea of instant gratification. We're so used to living in a world where everything happens instantly. Things that are worth it never comes easy. We don't care how many clickbait YouTube videos you've seen claiming you can learn a language in seven days. It's not that simple and it takes time. You have to be patient with yourself and realize it might take you up to a year to master the concepts. Depending on your situation it might take you longer to achieve fluency.

#4 Positive Mindset

Have you ever heard of the saying, "Mindset is everything?" We cannot emphasize this enough. If you believe that you need to be gifted or have a sixth sense to learn a foreign language, you won't succeed. Anything you do starts with your mindset. If you are willing to fix your state of mind and believe in yourself, you are more likely to achieve your goal.

Nothing great ever comes easy and a foreign language is one of those things. If you keep these four tips in mind, your journey will be that much smoother. As Babe Ruth once said, "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."

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