First opportunity to talk to native speakers...nerves :/ I live in nashville and today my girlfriend and I were going to sell some old clothes to a thrift store. As we were walking around the corner waiting for the store to sort the clothes, we came up on a hidden gem.
There was a Japanese restaurant with a market attached to it that were both family owned.
I looked through more Japanese books than I’ve ever seen in front of me before but waited a long time to buy them because I got nervous.
When I went to checkout, the lady was very sweet. She was quite old and asked if I spoke Japanese. Not knowing how to react to being faced with a native speaker for the first time, I said “a little” and choked out an “ありがとう” before I left.
I intend to go back but was floored at how difficult it was for me to speak. Any tips? I’ve been learning on Duolingo for about a year now, but feel like I could be doing more.