I know exactly how you feel believe me... I found the thought of speaking a my taget language to a native extremely awkward in the belief that the person im talking to is secretly judging my somewhat poor french skills. However now, speaking from experience i see why many blog teach a speak from day one approach, the reward of actually speaking and being understood greatly outweighs the initial fear and akwardness. So i suggest you dive in, and you can find comfort in knowing that your exchange partner is probably feeling exactly the same as you.

As far as my level in french goes, i have been learning for 4-5 months and some days i feel i'm at a solid intermediate level, but on the other hand some days i wake up feeling like an absolute beginner.

You have to remember that when you pick a speaking partner, it's clear from the start that it's for learning purposes. No one in his right mind would judge you for making mistakes when they know this is precisely the reason you wanted to speak with them in the first place.

Also, if you choose a French native who also wants to learn English, then they are in the exact same situation as you and they feel the exact same fears.

Everyone is afraid to make ridiculous mistakes before trying to speak a foreign language for the first time, but the thing is, once you get rid of that fear (and you do makes those mistakes), you realize two things, as Lammar did : first, making mistakes isn't even close to be as horrendous as what you picture in your head, most of the time it's just funny for 5 seconds and that's it; and second, that's when you really start to learn, no matter how much you prepared by reading and practicing all by yourself, when you start to try and speak it with natives, you'll make huge improvements in no time.

Thank-you ... And i believe you will sincerely. Up until yesterday i felt exactly the same but the feeling you get afterwards gives an amazing boost to your motivation .. and thinking about it we all learn in order to speak and to be understood so why not start now..

I hope when you do decide to take the dive it is an amazing success :D

If you've just started learning French and want to improve your conversational skills, I HIGHLY recommend Michel Thomas's French audio course in conjunction with Duolingo. I use the iPhone app (it's 5 dollars for each hour recording, and the first two lesson recordings are free so you can get a feel and see if it's for you!) I feel that Michel Thomas's method helps fill in where Duolingo falters (with things like grammar and conversational dialogue) an Duolingo fills in where Thomas falters (visualizing everything and giving you more practice with it). I'm by no means paid or anything to talk about Michel Thomas, his tapes have just really worked for me (it really helps with your accent--after the first few hours I was told by some native speakers that they're surprised how good I sound).

Good luck in your learning!

I have been listening to Learning French by Podcast. It is a free podcast with over 160 conversations. You do have to pay for the Pdf's that you can use with the lessons. But if you do this you might not even need it. You will hear a conversation and after that they will get in to the vocublary. They are conversations that you will have in real life too.

I agree. I just started learning French and it helps to have natives or people who speak the language fluently around you. A few people in my family speak French fluently and its really helping me to have conversations with them.

You will 100% stall and say something stupid. Even natives are not above this lol

Errm what i would say is make studying fun. At first i used duolingo with the soul purpose of completing my tree, and was learning french firstly because it sounded nice (At first ahaha) and because i wanted to bolster my cv, however i found that learning to fast was very stressful and nothing stuck in my head. However after failing badly initially i learnt that learning a language should be a process about firstly learning about another culture and way of life but also a journey in which you learn a lot about yourself.

If you have the money i would suggest either the Michael Thomas method and/or Assimil french with ease in combination with duolingo. The MT method for me, gave me the chance to actually speak the language, even though it was by myself through the programs artificial immersion environment in which you take the place of the third student. I also found that after completing the cause i had a solid gasp on french grammar without realising. Assimil on the other hand is just really entertaining and allows you to pick up a wide ranging vocabulary really quick.

With or without those products i believe the as soon as you are comfortable with the language find a a couple temporary language partners to practice your written and colloquial french.. I got Dirty French by Adrien Clautrier which is absolutely hilarious btw (By the way) an is a real help when learning how the french actually speak among themselves

Then learn vocabulary about what you are interested in .. For example in my native language i don't know the ins and outs of science therefore it wasn't on the top of list of topics to learn, but sports vocabulary was as other than language that's what i have a passion for, and it is the vocabulary learnt that made the conversation possible

Sorry if that was a bit long winded and I hope it helped :D

By lessons do you mean classes or duolingo? And for resources i am using the Michael Thomas method and Assimil french with ease

Thank-you really appreciate it :D

Formidable! j’espère que vous continuerez ! (pardonnez-moi les fautes*, svp!) Good luck :)

I so understand the fear aspect. Even while I was in France I feared speaking because I didn't want others judging me. I look back on it now and regret that I didn't take more initiative. How did you find your french speaking partner (if you don't mind me asking)? I really want to become fluent, that's my main goal right now. Although, daily online lessons are great I still need that interaction.

I know of LiveMocha, which is free, but you have to exchange your knowledge for coins, editing other people's work etc, which you can then use to 'buy' conversation access. At least, that's what it was like in 2011, it may have changed since then!