darkweasel:Don't be offended or nervous if someone corrects you! If someone corrects you, they have a good intention: improving your Esperanto. Even if the correction might be a bit annoying.

Whenever I correct beginner's mistakes in the tujmesaĝilo, I am very careful not to sound annoying and most especially not to give off an aura of being a "know-it-all". I sometimes back my corrections with authoritative texts (like PMEG or the courses here), or rather put myself in his/her level, being a komencinto, as to make him/her feel more comfortable. ^^'

But there are moments, when I almost lost composure. This person comes and asks questions that were so metagrammatical that no one can easily answer it. It seemed to me that he was questioning the language itself, one of those who seek a "perfect language". [He/she switched to another IAL already, yet he/she still goes here.] So I had to come up with convincing answers, based on what I've been reading (the Fundamento, the Akademio website, the PMEG, the book of de Saussure, etc.), just to riposte without turning the chatroom into a war zone. And I always feel bad about doing it. I was like, "Why does he/she waste his time questioning? Why can't he/she just enjoy Esperanto for what it is?". Sigh.

JulietAwesome:

Anyone else feel this way? Any advice to have to offer to similarly situated learners?

The answer is YES, I do feel that way. I still feel incredibly exposed to embarrassment out here in Esperanto land! I can just barely hold my own in a written venue. Considering your infant analogy, it wasn't too long ago I was also wearing my conversational diapers.

The key for me was finding a conversational partner at my level. We now use Skype. Obviously, this partner also has to be reliable, committed and reside in a compatible time zone. I had previous partners who weren't so closely matched with my skills. They either got bored or discouraged and stopped showing up to chat. It took six months to find the right person, although there is an existing thread (Skype) on this forum with a number of folks looking for the same thing. You may want to check it out if you already haven't.

My partner and I currently schedule 1 to 2 hours, 3 times per week. With an online dictionary at hand, we haltingly talk about our REAL daily activities. It was pure torture at first. Some sentences still take a few minutes to get through, but the self-correction process helps fix the memories. Anything that we learn incorrectly, we'll go back and correct when we're confident enough to face the “embarrassing” world.

Over the past two months, we've graduated from diapers to elementary school. We hope to be in high school by the end of this year. After that, I'm ready to go to the prom (the national congress)!

This is not easy, but if it's also uncomfortable, it won't ever happen. Make it comfortable first, then take the next step. If it's difficult to talk, find someone with a similar outlook. That's how it worked for me.

Ok, as always, I appreciate everyone's perspective and feedback

Frankouche:You seem to have the "eternal beginner" disease. Maybe, you should find some friends around you or in the web to practice.

Why would you not write in the eo-forum ? We wait for you

I will! Eventually... when I stop procrastinating... or something...

erinja:I feel like you can ease yourself into Esperanto speaking. Start out with simply writing in Esperanto; forum postings, e-mail correspondence, etc. You can take as long as you need to compose your message and hunt out your errors. Once you've gained a bit of confidence, you can progress to online chatting, in text form. No one has to hear your accent, you can look up words, etc. Finally, you can practice talking, actually talking. You are already experienced in Esperanto conversation, at least by text, so it gives you a bit of a confidence boost. If you intentionally practice talking with someone who speaks no English whatsoever, then how can you feel shame? This person doesn't speak your language, and you are actually using Esperanto for precisely its intended purpose. Skype is an excellent tool for things like that.

I've been lurking on the site for the better part of a year now, and posting on the forum is definitely one of the milestones I've set for myself, in addition to reading the translation of Alice in Wonderland.

I don't know if its comparable, but a few years ago I was trying to learn a new programming language, couldn't think of any hobby coding projects to practice the language. So I wrote an open source book as I was learning, and I progressed from newbie to pro so quickly. I have a few dozen short stories I've written over the years, and for a while I've been thinking of converting them to EO.

I'm not sure when I'll get to a point where I can speak, but I actually gave it a shot a while ago and recorded myself. It sounded soooooo bad -- I'd describe the sound as "choking on a cat" -- but I shared it with some programmers I chat with online and they enjoyed it. I think I'm pretty far away from Skype at the moment, but there are some Esperanto groups in and around town which I might visit sometime

I think, my biggest problem is wanting to be good at speaking esperanto straight away off the bat, not having the patience to realise that speaking esperanto isn't as easy as it first appears. But, I am slowly coming around to the idea that it will take a few years to speak well, and I will get better with time Good luck to everyone else who is struggling

Lynchie:But, I am slowly coming around to the idea that it will take a few years to speak well...

If you keep up with it (meaning some kind of daily practice, even if only for five or ten minutes or so*), I think you will be quite pleasantly surprised.

It doesn't take years.

It just takes practice.

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* Although more than that DOES help.

It definitely does not take years to speak well if you are regular with practicing, as RiotNrrd notes.

But it also depends on your in-born talent for languages (some people find it easy, some people find it hard).

At any rate, by my count it's now only 4 or 5 days into your learning, so it's far too early to start to despair that it isn't as easy as you thought. NO language is so easy that you can already hit a good level in a couple days.

Lynchie:I think, my biggest problem is wanting to be good at speaking esperanto straight away off the bat, not having the patience to realise that speaking esperanto isn't as easy as it first appears. But, I am slowly coming around to the idea that it will take a few years to speak well, and I will get better with time Good luck to everyone else who is struggling

Nothing bad with your passionate. Benny published some hints for that issue.

i'm a beginner as well. of course, i will feel embarassed too. most beginners will probably feel embarassed when they start off.

I'm a beginner too. I started about a year ago and then lost focus due to work and other priorities but I started again a month or two ago.

Most of my learning (all?) has been written (Kurso de Esperanto and, currently, La Gerda Kurso and Ana Renkontas).

Recently, I found a local group that will be the start of my speaking practice. I am more than a bit nervous. I speak well in English and I am not looking forward to struggling to communicate. However, I realize that the struggling is part of the learning process and, if we don't ever go outside our comfort zone, we'll likely miss many rewarding experiences. I'm not going to miss this experience.

Good luck with your learning and don't be afraid to make mistakes. You learn from those the most (and by that measure I must really be learning A LOT!!).

Kelly