Why does this happen?????????????????
-Okay so I have been studying spanish for a couple of years now,,I can speak and write very well in it,,,but one problem that I have is speaking in front of native speakers....although I know that I can speak it very well I feel like I'm doing or saying something rong or that I can't speak it as good as them. I was raised around spanish speakers so I can speak it very well butt I just don't feel confident when I speak infront of other spanish speakers. I hate this
Advice///Consejos?? 
4 Answers
Ha!!! Welcome to the forum Curt and welcome to the club. You need to join us on Skype. That is the place to curb your stagefright. It works for most although it hasn't quite cured me yet. Maybe that's just because I don't know enough Spanish yet but I keep going back for more. Try it, you'll love it.
I have the same problem. I'm much better at reading and writing in Spanish. Speaking and listening are much harder, which often makes it difficult for me to have conversations with native speakers. The only way to improve is to expose yourself to situations where you need to speak Spanish. Practice, practice and more practice. I have found most people are very tolerant of the mistakes that are made when learning to speak Spanish.
La manera más fácil de hacerlo es que te deje de importar... En serio, no debe importarte si cometes algún error... sólo habla. I am learning Russian now... and believe me... the worst that some native has told me is... "that word should be pronounced this way... " Así que es una situación de ganar-ganar. Habla, que no te dé miedo.
Curt, just go and talk. When I finally understood that "I feel like I'm doing or saying something wrong or that I can't speak it as good as them.", and that it didn't matter to them as much as it did to me, it was a very liberating moment.
In a discussion I had with a 'native' Spanish speaker, he told me that no matter how good I spoke Spanish, no matter how 'fluent' I was, he would always know that Spanish wasn't my native tongue. All native Spanish speakers know this, and they also know that you are making mistakes and that you'll probably say something wrong.
For what it's worth..... I just "throw things out there", if I'm not sure of exactly what to say. I know that I will be corrected if I'm too far off, and if I'm not, well, it's cool to guess and be close enough to 'right' for it to not matter.
When I screw up, sometimes I'll say "I don't know how that happened. I speak perfect Spanish at home" after I've been corrected. That usually gives them a laugh at my expense and they know I appreciate the correction.
