Hi!

Not sure if this would be the right sub to post this in, apologies if it isn’t!

I moved to this new country 3 years ago and i made already a lot of progress when it comes to learning the language (i just started my 2nd year of studies in that language, i speak it at work…) and i’m quite pleased with it. I don’t have trouble studying or working at all but when it comes to “fun” conversations with my classmates or cowerkers for example, i still struggle quite a bit.

I usually always manage to express myself but sometimes i struggle which then makes me feel awkward and i can’t really be myself. Especially when we are joking and i wanna say something and i need to say it fast cause we’re having a group conversation i get stuck. I feel like this affects the whole image people have of me and i find it very annoying.

I also used to be very shy and quite growing up which doesn’t help.

I know that practice makes perfect and that in a couple of years this won’t be an issue anymore, but i was wondering if any of you guys have a tip that might help me?

One thing i thought of was writing about the things that interest me and kind of prepare my “speech” that i can then later use in a conversation. Obviously i wouldn’t learn it word to word but you get the idea. Or just watching shows and then writing down the phrases that may come in handy and then try to use it more in my conversations. Does that sound like something that might help?

Does anyone have any other idea that might help?