Being shy about using a language one is learning, among native speakers.

Stormtroper

To quote myself, it's like lurking on forums; you wait and wait before saying anything, and you won't stop being a newbie if you don't become confident enough.

nohaynicklibre

True that

-has nothing to add-

Chagen

This. So much this.

I fear my language learning will be slowed because I get nervous about using other languages around their native speakers.

Like on here, I sweat every time I use German 'cause I'm scared Nyarly will point out how I messed it up.

Nyarly

Can't remember ever seeing you write German. Aside from your title and the only problem I have with it is that it sounds wangsty.

On the other hand, having a native speaker, who points out your mistakes, ready can be useful since it can improve your skills. Much better than a dictionary or even Babelfish. And I would never make fun because of that. Well, except that I would laugh at you, but you would never know that.

Consider this: I post here on an English board. Which, for me, is a foreign language, like German is for you. Making fun of your mistakes would be incredibly dickish.

Chagen

How is my title wangsty? It's supposed to fit with the avatar's bored expression.

Also, it uses the polite form to be sarcastically assholish (How often is "Sie" used instead of "du" nowadays? I hear it's declining in usage.).

Nyarly

Oh. I thought it was "Sie" in the sense of "they". Like that, it really seems more sarcastic than wangsty. Much more.

I don't know if it's declining, but "Sie" is still used all the time.

LouieW

Stormtroper,

I guess you are right about that, but I think it is easy to feel pretty intimidated about that kind of thing. I mean, it seems to me that there are plenty of people who can speak English really well here and on TV Tropes despite it not being their native language. I think that for someone who was brought up learning English and only English, the issue may be more that one will be more embarrassed about oneself looking stupid when speaking a foreign language than actually worry that other people will think the same thing.

Also, I can understand how one might feel inferior when it comes to languages compared to a lot of people here or on TV Tropes too. I am not sure if that kind of language skill is normal for internet forums. Still, just as how one might be afraid to talk about math in a place where seemingly everyone else is a math genius, I think that one may be even more shy about speaking a foreign language around those who are experts in it.

I think if you add that to being shy (in your native language) in the first place, you can have even bigger problems.

Still, I agree that it is probably a good idea to practice languages with people who know them best. I do not think that makes it any less scary though.