Hey guys! Please leave EITHER: 1. Your script that you use to speak to native speakers (you can write it in English or the language you're learning) 2. Your tips for how to not freak out when you meet native speakers of your target language. Merci ! Tack! Vielen dank!

"What am I supposed to do, assume there are other countries in EUROPE?"

I once bumped into a native Polish speaker and in my excitement/nervousness blurted out "My name is hello". I am definitely going to write out a script so I don't repeat that mistake! Thank you for the excellent content!

How many times have I spoke to a Filipino in Tagalog here (Philippines) and they always answer in English. I finally say (in Tagalog) I see you're not used to speaking to a foreigner in Tagalog! We both laugh and then they start answering in Tagalog. Thanks for sharing this vid.

I like your “2 year old” analogy. I once knew a toddler for whom English was a second language. When asked what she wanted for breakfast, she repeated, with increasing urgency, “Pig sticks. Pig sticks! Piiiiig stiiiicks!!!” Finally, we said, “Oh, bacon! 🥓” She very creative;y communicated what she wanted and then learned the correct word, just as you said in your video!

One day a guy from Argentina started speaking to me (in English) After a few mins I said to him “hablas inglés muy bien” (you speak English very well) which allowed me to speak in Spanish with him a little bit. I bumped into him a few months later and I was able to speak quite a bit more Spanish with him than before so that was encouraging!

I'm not afraid to speak in my target language German, but if you're afraid to speak in your target language, you could still prepare something similar to what I start with when I hear someone speaking German or English with a German accent: "Excuse me. Are you from Germany?" [Entschuldigen Sie mich. Sind Sie aus Deutschland?] And no matter what they say, you can probably follow up by asking them in your target language "Ah, where exactly? What city?" [Ah, wo genau, welche Stadt?] In my case, if they say they're Swiss, I may ask "But you can speak both Swiss German and so-called High German?" [Aber Sie sprechen sowohl Schweizerdeutsch als auch sogenanntes Hochdeutsch?] (And similarly, if they're from Austria.) This is meant to encourage them to speak High German with me, which by then, they've noticed is what I'm speaking. (I find other dialects hard to understand.) I live in a small town in the U.S. that sees a disproportionate number of foreign tourists. Still, hardly anyone here speaks German. Everyone I've had this exchange with has been very pleasantly surprised that some American in line or at the next table can actually speak German with some degree of fluency and is eager to do so. Next time I hit it off with a German-speaker, after there's a vaccine for Covid-19, I should offer to show them around. Even if you find this scary, it's also fun and exciting! And no one is going to be offended that you're trying to speak in their native language. It's inherently a compliment.

That's how I made my first language partner. She was talking to some dude in english, struggling for words with an amazing Guatemalan accent. I slid up and (in garbage spanish) said "Usted habla Espanol?" She visibly relaxed and turned to me and said more spanish than I could possibly understand, but I got enough of it to help her through what she was trying to tell the dude then continue talking to her afterward. It was years in the making but getting to do that was super awesome.

Last year I accidently asked my study hall teacher whose native language is Spanish for a "son of paper" (hijo de papel) rather than a "sheet of paper" (hoja de papel).

I have been living in Paris for the past 4 years and, despite being a certified C1 speaker, I am STILL scared of speaking to locals! My problem is that when they praise me on my French skills, it adds unwanted pressure so I think that, next time I meet the same person, I have to "perform" at the same level otherwise I am a huge failure. It is all in my head, I agree...maybe I need therapy! Hahaha. It has gotten so bad that I haven't really made any friends these past 4 years since I am very uncomfortable in expressing myself in French. This fear, however, is not entirely unfounded...I once met an Italian girl who told me that her French group of "friends" stopped inviting her for gatherings and social events. When she asked why, they simply explained that her French was bad - she had some problems in understanding what they said, she couldn't keep up, she had a thick accent, they had very little patience in trying to understand what she was saying, etc....bref, Parisians can be mean and cruel sometimes! Of course, this episode and Parisians in general cannot speak for the rest of the country - French people are some of the nicest people I have ever met, especially outside of Paris and large urban areas. Unfortunately, I cannot move to the "province" just yet (I am trying!) - maybe then, I will be able to finally master this wonderful language full of history and culture! Un jour, j'y arriverai!

I'm not nervous when speaking to a native speaker of my target language, I'm nervous when speaking to any person I don't know yet

I've always noticed that English people are generally the most judgemental when it comes to second language speakers speaking their language. Whenever I spoke to English natives they've made fun of me. Whenever I spoke to French or German people (whose languages I am way worse at) They've been accepting and supportive. This is just my experience. May be different for other people.

A funny trick I picked up from another language learner: If native speakers in your target language keep trying to get you to speak English, just pretend you don't know English. This works better for people who speak multiple languages as you can respond "I don't speak English." or something like that in a different language. Hopefully they will get the point and continue on in the target language. This probably isn't advised with someone you intend to befriend or make a long term connection with, as it may upset them that you lied/misled them. If you're just talking to strangers on the street/in a store/etc then it might be effective though.

I am a korean who is learning english, and when I went to Australia two years ago, I saw a guy taking picture of a Japanese street musician who was playing strange music. I talked to that person about the musician, and that was my first conversation with the actual english speaker. I think it went quite well, except me saying one or two embarrassing words. One year later i had a chance to go to Australia again, but then i couldn’t have a conversation with anyone because i had been having this strange idea that i need an some thing extra-ordinary happening right in front of me to have a conversation with a stranger next to me. But now I understand that it could be fine to ask a stranger some random question about where the person is from, what kind of job the person has, and etc. I think maybe when i go to english speaking country again i will have conversation with many people, and hopefully, get better in english. Anyway, i think your videos are not just thoughtful, but also very motivating. Thank you.

*Prepares script of various lines and responses* *Pushes self to speak in the target language* 5 seconds later... "What the hell did she just say?"

Just subscribed and now binge watching. Great content.

When I was learning Chinese I would just speak it at anyone I could find until they respected my abilities enough to speak back (even when I sounded like a confused toddler)- now I've never been to a Chinese speaking country and I'm at a high intermediate level/kinda fluent. If English is your first language, people will try to do the same thing to you, and as aggressive as it sounds, don't give them that opportunity. If you (like me) come from a small town, have no money for travel and resources, have very few native speakers to practice with, and come from a typical American family that only speaks English, you can still learn another language! Just be prepared to work extra hard, talk to yourself often, and most importantly, have fun with it so you don't lose motivation. (edit for awkward wording)

Well, I've got to admit, a lot of things popped into my head whenever I was around native Spanish speakers, but thankfully, "Don't say a word!" was never one of them. On the other hand, self-monitoring thoughts -- "Fix the grammar here! No, this word!" -- are probably at least as bad... Hmm... "Quiero practicar español con usted; realmente necesito la práctica, por favor." I've been practicing by recording myself saying what pops into my head into my phone, just to get used to speaking out loud. I'll have to start talking with people more soon, not just writing to them over the KZfaq comment boards.

Reminds me of the time when I accidentally said "goodnight" instead of "thank you" to the Family Mart cashier in Japan last year! ^^"

I’m not a native English speaker. I’ve been listening and binging to your videos that I’m starting to speak like you and your accent and I like it! 😊

You are probably right about the fact that you can get across more than you'd think with basic words I don't trust my knowledge (about 1 month of legit but on and off study, and maybe about 200 words) and anxiety would probably still get the better of me but realistically i could probably say a thing or two and introduce myself in another language if i tried Like in Japanese (my language of study) こんにちはダスティです、私は日本語を覚えます、はじめまして Note that I didn't double check any of this at all, this is just what i could pull out of my memory while procrastinating sleep if anybody who knows better Japanese wants to comment on what i said feel free to do so (intended meaning was something along the lines of "hello I'm dusty, i am learning Japanese, nice to meet you") Admittedly am slightly anxious just posting this (being the first time i said something beyond a word or two in Japanese) even if i know nobody will get mad at me for a dumb mistake in a community about learning languages where everybody probably made dumb mistakes I am really sorry for the rather extreme anxious energy this comment likely gives off

The Algorithm told me to watch this, and while I hear how you talk about your early speaking self in your later videos, this advice actually sounds solid ;-) Greetings from the future.

"Hopefully, your ability to think about how to communicate an idea is a little bit better than a two year-old's." Not even in my native language.

Well, back when I was about 9 or 10 (and that was a looooong time ago, probably before you were born) my older sister decided she liked how French sounds and wanted to learn. Those were the days way before computers. You could get records (yes, records that you played on a phonograh) from the Berlitz Language Corp to learn different languages. But, we had no money to buy anything so we found a book published by Berlitz in our local library for French. Berlitz was the place business people used to go to learn languages that they needed for work and the method was to get you speaking from the start. So, long introduction to MY sentence: Je ne sais pas tres bien m'expliquer en Francais, mais je le parle suffitment pour me fair comprendre. (That I still remember this is a tribute to learning things when you're young and your mind is uncluttered or to the Berlitz method...no sure). Anyway, I am very shy and would never dare speak to a native French speaker, of course. Fast forward 27 years or so (I told you it was long ago) and I was working with someone who spoke French. I did just as you say and without thinking blurted out my sentence. Well, she was so impressed that she came back at me with a lot of words. I understood a few of them but really had trouble responding. That was the end of that. But, now we are no longer working together and I regret not forcing the issue that we speak a bit in French every day. I could have learned so much. Your advice is spot on....everyone should take it

Good idea I think. I lock up like this and it’s my biggest hurdle. I’m learning Portuguese and live in Portugal. The person will say “tudo bem” and I immediately have no clue what they said even though I’ve said and heard it a thousand times. I’ll give this a shot.

I spent quite some time in the US learning English on the flight and learned quite fast if I say so myself, still I always try and find room for improvement (because believe me, there is lol). Some of my friends and random people on campus would address me in Spanish but I always replied in English, I appreciated the effort but I was also trying to get some practice myself. I even think that having a conversation where each part uses their non native language is beneficial for both and not only one part.

These are some amazingly great tips, thank you! I'm working on learning Korean lately and boy it is scary so when I feel ready to push myself out of the nest and talk to people then this will be incredibly and amazingly helpful! Awesome tips!

Very good tips. Trying to learn the american accent

Jättestort tack för den här videon, precis vad jag behöver just nu! Åker till Grekland om tre veckor och ska använda hela din lista för att testa min nybakta A1-grekiska :)

What if I actually want Taco Bell?

I'd love to follow your advice, but there's always a very real threat of annoying people. I've seen a lot of Swedes saying that they switch to English simply because they can't be bothered to waste time interpreting and correcting the speech of their addressee. That, and they enjoy speaking English just for the heck of it. So it's a nice thought, but I'll probably not be doing the same unless I'm actually paying a native speaker to speak their language to me.

This channel is HiLlArIoUs and informative at the same time. It's good that I'm subscribed to it.

I told a German native speaker that our son is hot 🤣🤣 never again

Danke schön

when you are a kid, you aren't aware of the fact that speaking slow, or in super simple terms can result in them being annoyed. they also don't worry about being seen as stu-...stupi-...ugh i can't say it. these things are a real problem for me T.T

Thank you so much

I love your content, it makes me think about may language learning in a different way. Keep up the good work!

Great video full of sage advice. I visited Denmark in 2018 and tried to use my (terrible) Danish a few times but shied away after a few seconds because of the ease of switching to English. I will be returning in 2021, and I will be using my (better, still not good) Danish a lot more next time. Keep up the great work!

Hey! Haben Sie diese Woche den neuen Tatort gesehen?! (Hey! Have you seen the new Tatort This week?!) My Austrian partner told me to say it, and she was right, not once has a native speaker responded with anything other than rapidly rattling of their personal review of the Tatort Team in question... ...Mann, they really love that show. Lol

Dude, you just resolve shyness holyshit

I often try to break the ice in my target language like this: "Salvē! Nōmen meum est Mārtīnus et sī vīs, possumus colloquī in linguā Latīnā ut Rōmānī tempore antīquō. Quot servōs habēs?" Sadly, my only response is always: "Che cosa dici, sei pazzo? Chiamerò la polizia!"

My native tongue is Hindi and we use the "devnagri (देवनागरी लिपि)" script from Sanskrit. Thank You फ्रेंच व स्वीडिश के दिन।

Ditto Kieran below! Your channel content is fantastically helpful, and...often hilarious!

This is a fantastic video. I am going to prepare and learn by heart. I freeze and talk rubbish when surprised. I just felt it was cheating to prepare.

I find many speakers on Facebook and we practice with each other but we always end up talking about the same things, so I feel like I'm not growing. So yes I need new conversation topics that requires me to learn new vocabulary.

My first sentence I formed/ made today. Je suis chaud.

I am happy you fought the swedes in speaking swedish. They should know better than to respond in english! :) /swede

I speak German well enough it's like I flip a switch and I'm thinking in German. Where the trouble comes is if I have to then translate back into English while the switch is still flipped. French was my third foreign language and I find it so easy if the other person slows down some. I spent a couple of years in francophone Africa. And they spoke pidgen that was a strange mix.

Last year I forgot the Spanish word for chicken in a restaurant 😭 a word I learnt decades ago way before I even thought to learn Spanish. Watched this and it saved my life haha! Anyway my script: Esp: Te molestaría que hablemos español? He estado aprendiendo durante seis meses y nunca tengo la oportunidad de usarlo! Eng: Would it bother you if we spoke in spanish? I have been learning for 6 months and never have the opportunity to use it. I lie and say I have only been practicing for 6 months so I'm not too ashamed if I screw up haha

Good tips, Im learning Espanol at the moment so will try to make some nifty sentences to grab. 😜 I know some mandarin and would use "bu hao yi si" or "bu zhi dao" if I get into a mental corner. 😬

Aprender un idioma me ha demostrado que yo soy tan inepto en situaciones sociales. Todo el mundo insiste en que yo necesita hablar con hablantes nativos que no conozo, y es la verdad. Pero realmente, casi nunca hablo con extraños en mi idioma nativo en el primer lugar. Verdaderamente me pongo nervioso.

Yo no hablo espanol pero estoy aprendiendo. Necesito hablar cada dis porque olvido. Puedes hablarme en espanol por favor. I have used this to break the ice with many native speakers and always find that they become so helpful and teach me so much and don’t mind at all when I get it horribly wrong :)

I'm to a point where I just want to fake I can't understand English

When I was speaking German with native speakers , we switched to and fro from German to English, and I honestly could not remember afterwards which bits were German and which were English.

My family and I were fishing in the river when I heard that 2 guys next to us spoke Chinese. I was thinking about the ways to approach them when they did it first. They managed to catch a small fish and gave it to my son to play with. I collected all my courage and asked "Nĭmen shi Zhong Guo ren ma?" They gave me a weird look and shook their heads. I was confused and immediately switched to English. They didn't seem to understand me. That was painful. I ran away. The last thing I heard them saying "putonghua". My attempt was a complete failure but I just hope that it was they who didn't speak Mandarin

Me in a discord server vc, where english speakers and russian speakers can learn english/russian: *forgets literally every word in russian and English I know and starts stuttering in German*

Are the titles of the videos translated automatically ? Because I'm French and the translation is quite strange

The fact we all know Yo quiero Taco Bell shows media immersion does work

hhhh just be polite and shut up xD so true

Actualmente, Estoy estudiando Español porque mi familia es de latinoamérica y son hablantes nativos de Español. Soy el único que no puede hablar Español bien, que triste. Espero mejorar con práctica, pero los verbos y tiempos apestan. As for advice on how to help with anxiety, I can only really the following statements: Be okay with failing. People, by nature, are scared of failing. No one wants to humiliate themselves in public, because it makes us feel horrible and disheartens us. One crucial thing you need to know in order to learn any skill, not just language learning, is that failure is a necessity. In order to improve, you need to fail first. If you don't fail, you'll never improve, which leads into a vicious cycle of being too scared to speak and never being able to improve because you never speak. You'll stumble, you'll forget things, you'll fail, sometimes in pretty bad ways, because everyone does. Another thing that causes a lot of language learners to give up is that they have unrealistic expectations, which is an amalgamation of different things, ranging from the methods they employ to learn, how much time they dedicate to learning and general impatience. A lot of people, in modern day, want instant gratification when it comes to learning new things. They see the end results and praise them, but don't see the amount of work, dedication and practice that goes into becoming actually good in any given skill. I remember seeing someone complain about not being fluent in a language after only 1 month of using Duolingo once. Lastly, always remember that the hardest part is the beginning. The start of your language learning process will always be the hardest and most painful difficulty curve because you have no foundation in your target language, but once you start to learn and get better at your language, you can improve impressively quick, and more importantly, you'll actually start to enjoy learning the language. The beginning always stings the most, because it feels like you're progressing by millimeters at a time and aren't making any headway. In short: Be okay will failing and learn to improve from those failures, your growth will always be gradual and never spontaneous and that the beginning will always be the hardest part, especially if your target language has a lot of rudimentary concepts that aren't in your native language. (for example, gendered pronouns and verb conjugations that vary depending on the tenses and pronouns in question if you're a native English speaker.)

will talk back in english lolololol now i dont know if this only happens to me but as a native spanish speaker some americans who want to practice spanish ask me to talk spanish with them, i have no problem with speaking spanish, i do not like speaking english anyway so i start to speak as i normally do but then they ask me to speak slowly and that is really annoying speaking like im talking to child so slow and clear or they won't get what i mean, i would rather speaking english even when i hate it xd

In my case the nerves don’t go away after the first sentence D: I practice talking in Russian regularly but what ends up happening is I’ll listen to them and freeze when it’s my turn to speak. It’s something about them staring at me and waiting for an answer that I completely forget every word and all the grammar that’s required to say what I want to. So I start explaining something but then awkwardly stop when it doesn’t work out. They know I’m learning and are there to help me so I don’t think I’m bothering them, has anyone overcome a similar situation?

I've learned to hate speaking/communicating in the foreign languages of Python, Java, & C++ with the ONE other person on the planet (a close relative) who understands these languages at all. He has caused me to absolutely HATE computer programming and taught me NEVER to discuss programming languages with him or anyone else ever again.

Quiero Taco Bell!

I know I need to speak with native English speakers but I already feel insecure talking in my native language (yes shyness level 1 000) let alone English. But I really need to improve myself for my work so I will just force myself... :(

Er svensken din så god at du forstår norsk også? 👀

Quiero taco bell LOL

First I need to meet a native Swedish speaker

What if the people of my target language won't interact with me? I am trying to learn German, a pretty difficult language, and native speakers who refuse to interact with people trying to learn doesn't make learning easier. This has led to discouragement learning German when do many Germans just won't interact when I try to interact with them.

Idk how many times i've said "Привет, меня зовут Девин, это похоже на диван, можно звонить меня диванчик"

Oh, you’re German? I’m learning German, but it isn’t that good because I’ve only been learning it for 38 years!! (Not kidding)

the problem is that i can speak all the languages except my native one only when i interact with people outside my family its a struggle

What about duolingo

"PrOgReSs" 😂😂😂😂

A person named 'helmet'?

Do you still believe people should use this method?

EVERYONE YOU REPLY TO MY COMMENT AND TALK WITH EVERYONE ONE ELSE HERE IN GERMAN TO PRACTICE

Just go on fking omegle and change the language settings