Shyness and Lack of Confidence

Shyness and Lack of Confidence Speaking Japanese

Let’s discuss shyness and lack of confidence speaking Japanese. I have been getting private messages from people asking how to be confident speaking Japanese.

I am wondering how many more people are struggling with this, and can I help you?… Is this you?

– You have issues mainly with pronunciation and confidence in speaking.

– You are worried you’ll sound stupid or forget what you learned when you actually have to speak with someone.

When I started my Japanese conversation club in 2014, I discovered that there are many different types of learners. Many different levels and often different motivation. (About 30 people come along every week! Many attendees arrive as complete beginners). However, what I hear time and time again is that the barriers to speaking are:

Confidence and shyness

So what does shyness and lack of confidence speaking Japanese look like?

• You feel worried you’ll sound stupid.
• You feel worried you’ll forget what you learned when you actually have to speak with someone who is fluent!
• You feel confident, but are just a shy person in general.
• You think that speaking is still something you “can’t do properly”.
• You get nervous and the words just won’t come out. Perhaps most of the time you can understand what is being said to you verbally, but being able to respond back in Japanese is difficult for you.

So what can we do about shyness and lack of confidence?

First of all, you are getting outside your comfort zone. This is great and the discomfort is natural! You are an adult and adults are prone to over-thinking. When babies start speaking they are just trying to communicate, they don’t worry about making mistakes.

So try to be like a baby – just concentrate on trying to make yourself understood. More on that here.

Secondly, we often approach languages by using textbooks and out-dated styles of lessons. These don’t give us confidence. Textbooks require a correct answer. You get it right or you get it wrong.

Conversation is more fluid and is not always necessary to be grammatically correct. If the listener does not understand they will ask for clarification – bonus! A longer conversation!

Probably when you took Japanese in school/college/university, your sensei spent more time on grammar and kanji than they did on conversational speaking. You didn’t have the chance to “wing it”, to try and make yourself understood outside of the confines of a specific grammar point!

So how can we overcome shyness and lack of confidence?

Speak.

Just speak.

Why? Because it is the fastest way to make progress in the language, the fastest way to overcome shyness and the faster way to get confident!

Learn just one word and say it over and over if you want. For example, 何 (なに) is a good word. You can point and say 何 and someone will reply with that new vocabulary. If you are alone, point at something and say 何 then pretend the be the responder by finding out that new vocabulary and replying (to yourself).

At our weekly conversation club, no matter their reasons for attending or their learning background, we get people speaking Japanese from the beginning. (It is also only two hours a week and we want people to walk away with a sense of achievement and come back for more the next week!)

Did I mention why? – it is the fastest way to make progress in the language, the fastest way to overcome shyness and the faster way to get confident!

Are you struggling with shyness and lack of confidence speaking Japanese? Is this you? What are you going to do to change that? How will you start speaking Japanese today?  Send me a message and let me know!

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