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Super Nervous About Speaking English
Recently, I found myself in a situation where I had to participate in a discussion at work in English.
My supervisor organized a casual meeting with colleagues from other organizations, where we were supposed to have a conversation among young professionals. Initially, it was planned to be in Japanese, so I volunteered.
However, it turned out that there were individuals who couldn't speak Japanese, and the discussion suddenly switched to English.
For some reason, I don't feel embarrassed speaking in front of non-Japanese individuals, but when it comes to Japanese people who are fluent in English or have a background of studying abroad, I become anxious and shrink away from speaking in English.
This time was no exception, as the majority of participants were "Japanese individuals who were proficient enough to conduct work in English." I was extremely nervous.
Apart from online English lessons, I think this was probably the first time I had a conversation with someone in English since my student days.
After graduating from university, I made diligent efforts to express myself in English through online English lessons and daily tweets. And it paid off.
I was able to speak without any problems!
Speaking in English and having a proper conversation made me happy.
Another Joyful Incident Later
A few days later, I emailed a person whom I couldn't exchange business cards with at the event (this person can speak Japanese but is originally from overseas).
Although I didn't mention being nervous about speaking English in the email, they wrote back saying, "Yuna-san, your English was excellent."
This experience boosted my confidence. It made me happy!
However, I believe part of the reason I was able to speak comfortably was because I limited the conversation to topics within my English-speaking ability.
Therefore, I want to continue practicing my speaking skills and expanding my range of topics in the future.
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