Do you ever feel this way?

[Rosa]

I must admit that I have felt a little odd being around others that speak a language more fluently than I do. The reason is, I might understand much of what they say but sometimes I am unable or doubtful in joining the conversation for fear that I make an error because I misinterpreted what was being said.

[jfab]

I have this with British people. I have this straight up American accent and sometimes it intimidates me to listen to people who speak in British accent. That's really my only experience so far.

[tikilalalove]

I grew up here in the Philippines and I feel awkward whenever I'm speaking in English with a different accent. For them, if you speaks English, you grew up from a rich family. They would laugh because you were different, but I don't think that's discrimination since Filipinos are already used in people who speaks English here in the Philippines.

[Gelsemium]

Actually I've always felt pretty confident when speaking foreign languages, even if I speak poorly I try to communicate the better I can and I ask for advice. Being shy will not help my language skills.

[angie51]

I always feel awkward and embarrassed when speaking in another language. Although I should not be concerned about these feelings,they tend to make my attempts at conversing in a foreign language, less successful as an outcome.

[CeliVega]

At my place there's a lot of foreigners around. Some works here and some other are tourists. After a while you learn to get used to different accents of a language, or a language foreign to you.

Sometimes when language fails to carry our message across, we try adding body language and pictures to help tourists who got lost or tourists trying to find their way to some famous destinations.

And I don't think they mind us speaking in different accents or speaking poorly in their languages too much. They are grateful there's people showing them around and we are happy we get to practise a different language. Practise makes perfect, right?

[Peninha]

I do remember one time two friends of mine making fun of my English, I really don't know why, they don't speak that much better than me. I think that as long as we can communicate, who cares how we sound right?