“Learning a language and using it is a skill that we all have. It's just a part of daily life, no different from walking or eating. Like with those basic skills, language learning shouldn't be a cause of stress. If you got stressed out from taking a walk, that would be abnormal. Stress when speaking is equally abnormal. The argument that 'stress is normal to start with' is unfounded; after all, we all learn to speak our native tongue with no stress at all. It's more likely that a negative reaction is caused by the situation, not from speaking. You should avoid these types of situations - repeated exposure to this kind of stress will stunt your progress and you'll lose your motivation.”