Overcoming frustrations in communication

I would like to know some opinions about how a learner can overcome the initial frustration of not being able to communicate well in the language he/she has been learning

The problem is always with us even when we are talking to each other in our native language.
Selecting topics you talk about and people who you talk with seems to be important.

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In fact often I use parts of artificial dialogues I have previously acquired in order to start off a speech or a dialogue…but as you just mentioned it’s vital to select people to talk with and the proper topic.

I have to keep looking to the future, I know I can’t communicate as well as I want today, but it will keep improving if I just keep working the problem. With enough input, fluency is always the output.

Just be patient. After many hours of talking it will become automatic.

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It’s very painful. I suggest reading and listening enough so you can at least understand the basics.

Make sure your tutors ONLY speak in the target language. Get them to give you explanations in the target language. This might be slow at first, but your brain will adapt and you’ll get faster.

Trust me, brave through it.

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I’m struggling with this very issue, indeed. I’ve been very lucky, these days, to be able to speak English with natives everyday. However, sometimes it works well sometimes it doesn’t. It can be a word I can’t pronounce or a word I can’t deliver instantly.

What I do is not shy away from talking - le ridicule ne tue pas.

I’m conversant not fluent, but with these guys staying longer…

If it is any consolation, everyone goes through this. We are never satisfied, and especially at the beginning. We just have to persevere. It’s like most things in language learning. At first it seems unlikely that we will ever achieve a decent level, and yet we do eventually get there if we just keep going. Remember to focus on what you can do, understand, say, and not on what you can’t.

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