Fear of speaking Italian: what I learned as a teacher and as a student
Starting to speak a foreign language is a difficult step for many people. I know this as an Italian teacher, but also as someone who has spent many years of their life learning languages.
The fear of speaking Italian — or any foreign language — is one of the most common obstacles learners face. And I say this from both sides of the experience.
When I was a teenager at school, I was afraid to speak English. I felt embarrassed, because some of my classmates were much better than me and I assumed the teacher’s standard was the one I had to meet. I was scared of mispronouncing words, using vocabulary out of context, making grammar mistakes. Later, as a university student, I started studying Polish and Russian — two rather unusual choices from an Italian perspective — and paradoxically I felt much less afraid, because there was no embarrassment in comparison with others. We were all at the same level, all starting from zero.
Comparing yourself to others: the first obstacle for Italian learners
This is the first thing I say to the people who study Italian with me today — especially those who study in their free time, for pleasure and passion: other people’s level doesn’t matter. In fact, most of my courses are one-to-one, but I also run some small group lessons, and fortunately people almost never feel embarrassed around each other. Often in a group there’s someone who feels freer to speak, someone who knows the grammar better, and someone else who has an extraordinary memory for new words and picks up everything immediately. It doesn’t matter that these people have different levels — if anything, it’s a way to enrich each other. And trust me: every student is so focused on themselves and on the teacher that they genuinely don’t pay attention to other people’s mistakes.
Another thing I used to fear as a student was real-life situations where I had to use English, Russian or Polish. With English, I still feel it sometimes — I still make the occasional mistake, I don’t always follow every accent, and I know fewer words than I’d like. And I have the impression that in the English-speaking world, everyone assumes you speak English when you arrive. With Polish and Russian, it’s completely different. Every time a Polish person discovers I speak their language, they’re almost incredulous — and the compliments are extraordinary, precisely because so few foreigners ever really learn Polish.
Italians don’t judge: why your mistakes don’t matter as much as you think
This brings me to a second useful lesson for my Italian students: Italy works the same way. Except for younger generations, most Italians don’t feel comfortable speaking English — they studied it little, and often not very well — so when a foreign person makes an effort to speak Italian, they are genuinely delighted. They are not at all ready to judge mistakes or imperfections. Quite the opposite.
I know this all sounds very nice in theory. But it needs to be applied in practice, and that’s not always easy. With my students, I use a very practical approach from the very beginning — even with complete beginners. The goal isn’t to overcome the fear of speaking Italian after the fact. It’s to work from day one in a way that prevents that fear from developing in the first place.
In my method as an online Italian tutor, there’s no clear dividing line between a phase where you learn the rules and a phase where you start speaking. We try to apply what we learn straight away — always without stress, but with the clear idea in mind that the goal is to speak Italian without fear.
I draw on my experience as a teacher, professional materials and a lot of resources I create myself. And I always keep my experience as a student in mind, so I never forget how it feels to be on the other side of the webcam.
If you like my approach and want to know more, visit the courses page. And then maybe we can have a chat — 30 minutes at most, in Italian, English or Polish — to understand your level and your needs, talk about costs and availability, and work out whether I might be the right Italian teacher for you. If it feels right, we start. If not — no hard feelings. Always without fear.