Anxiety can affect a lot of people trying to learn a foreign language. Confidence problems, a reluctance to speak, and even insomnia can make it a lot harder to succeed. These problems seem especially more apparent for college students taking language classes.

Elaine Horwitz, a professor of foreign language education at the University of Texas at Austin, believes there’s a definite connection between what’s been identified as language anxiety and performance in the classroom. “They were sleepless, they were unable to do anything else in their life but pay attention to this class. They were studying absolutely full-time and they were getting C’s,” she said.

Everyone’s heard the stereotype that Americans can’t learn foreign languages. To be sure, American students begin learning them later than their peers in Europe and Asia. But Horwitz has pointed out that language anxiety, as she has measured it, doesn’t confine itself to the United States.

Don’t make the mistake of believing you have a cultural disadvantage that makes it harder for you to learn to speak Spanish. Everyone all over the world feels exactly the same way. According to the article:

While about a third of American students exhibit some form of the anxiety, she said, the European percentage is lower — 28 to 30 percent — which might justify a bit of that Old World snobbery. But in Asia, she said, there are actually more students with the problem, in the neighborhood of 40 to 43 percent.

Learning Spanish in a formal classroom setting can be beneficial, but it can also present some difficult problems. And learning to speak Spanish fluenty definitely does not require several years of rigorous academic study.

At the end of the day, anxiety can be used as a positive force. You can also structure your language learning regimen in a way that reduces stress and increases enjoyment. Getting a good Spanish language course and practicing with native speakers are two fun and easy ways to learn to speak Spanish.

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