I swear, I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with my brain!

I can write semi-coherently in Irish (yes, I make mistakes, but in general I don't do too badly), but the second I open my mouth, everything I know goes out the window! Verbs go unconjugated (if I remember which ones I want at all), I can't remember words or set phrases for the most basic things...it's intensely frustrating!

I know, I know...practice. But I do, and I have, and my ability to speak still barely surpasses "me Tarzan, you Jane."

I don't know if it's my inherent shyness coming out (I really am very shy in person...I don't even like to make phone calls!), stage fright, or a combination, but sometimes I wish I could pull out my brain, show it to people, and say "look...it's all in there."

The really weird thing is, when I'm not actually trying to use it, Irish comes out of me all the time, almost without my thinking about it. And I actually do do better with conversation when I'm drinking. I'm begining to feel the Rajesh Koothrapali of Irish!

Any suggestions for breaching that barrier between the mind and the mouth? (Beyond more conversation practice , which I really am doing with people on a regular basis...I'm just not getting any better at it. And beyond staying perpetually drunk, which probably isn't a good idea for my waistline or my driving record).

Redwolf

There's nothing wrong with your brain, it's just the way the brain works. Writing and speaking are two different processes and goverened by different parts of the brain.

I can totally relate to your problem. English is my second language, and while I can write at an advanced level, I sound like a total beginner when I speak. And yes, I'm very shy too, to the point that it's really hard for me to speak to people I don't know well. And when I make mistakes I feel very stupid and get even more shy, which sometimes creates kind of an endless circle. Makes me want to do this:

I wish I could suggest an effective solution, but still looking for one myself. Just wanted to say that this situation is quite normal.

I've been speaking Irish for over seventy years. I was brought up in a bi-lingual home in Dublin but spent all my Summers in Spiddal and Inverin in Co. Galway. I've lived in London for forty years and still sometimes have the same problem as you Redwolf. So here is what I do. I listen to Irish records as sing along -ugh!
I also listen to Raidió na Gaeltachta and repeat the news etc out loud. Where possible I write notes and reminders to myself in Irish. Sometimes I will take a paragraph from a newspaper or magazine and translate it. Having done all that it still takes at least one Guinness to relax me in Connamara before I enter into a conversation. So you are not alone!

I'm an introvert too, and hate making phone calls (except to close friends). My dad used to say "What are you afraid of? They're not going to jump through the phone at you!"

One thing that helps me is that if I know I'm going somewhere where I might get a chance to use my Irish, I'll read something as Ghaeilge out loud to myself. That seems to limber up some of the neural pathways in preparation for conversation.

Another thing that helps is that occasionally I'll read this aloud: http://nualeargais.ie/foghlaim/irregular.php I know that's basic stuff, but it helps to practice it because in English we're not used to answering a question with a verb. By practicing those forms, as soon as I hear "An bhfaighidh tú...?", my tongue is preparing to say "Gheobhaidh" or "Ní bhfaighidh" before I've even heard the rest of the question.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

Redwolf:

If you'd like, I can send you a simple book that I've typed out. I could read part of it slowly to you and then you can interrupt and ask me questions. I can do the same with you and we can just make answers in conversation. If we do it very basically, the mind begins to pull it all together. It can all be done via Skype. Your Irish is way past mine, but I am ruthless in just blurting stuff out and I'm not afraid of looking stupid-I think that's the key. I do this 2x a week with others and it WORKS. Let me know. We can do it a couple of times to see if it helps you. I know it will help me.

Faber

It is great to be able to just say stuff and not to be afraid of being wrong. I think that being afraid of making mistakes is a large part of the reason why so many Irish people don't use the Irish they know. You have the right attitude.

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Actually, I think the "right" attitude is somewhere between the two, i.e., you need to be brave enough to get out there and use your Irish without being too fearful of making mistakes, but you also have to retain a certain amount of fear or embarrassment at making mistakes in order to keep improving.

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WARNING: Intermediate speaker - await further opinions, corrections and adjustments before acting on my advice.
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I think there's a difference between "fear" and "embarrassment" and "understanding that you need to correct your mistakes." That very fear is what keeps people, particularly shy people, from trying to use their language skills at all. Rather, I'd say you need to accept that you will make mistakes, that it's a natural part of language learning, and that it's OK so long as you also work on correcting them.

Redwolf (aka "Ms Do what I say, not what I do")

Just "understanding that you need to correct your mistakes" isn't enough either, though. It takes some emotional investment in order to act on that "understanding" and actually want to do soemthing about correcting those mistakes. Those same emotions can be both an impetus and an impediment to learning a language. On the one hand you have to jump in and try it as if you really "don't give a shit" but if you really "don't give a shit" then you won't get any better either.

I find I go through phases - some periods where I just plough ahead without worrying about mistakes and other periods where I am consolidating my learning and proactively trying to understand certain constructions but in those periods I may feel less "fluent" because I am more conscious of my mistakes.

It can feel like you are going around in circles but actually it is a spiral and each time you go around the cycle some of the gaps in your knowledge get filled in a little more ... it also takes an emotional investment to want to keep going at something when it is difficult to gauge your progress.

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WARNING: Intermediate speaker - await further opinions, corrections and adjustments before acting on my advice.
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I don't know...I think that motivation to improve provides its own impetus, without fear or embarrassment entering the equation. People vary, I'm sure, but I can't imagine entering into the task of learning a language without the desire to learn it well.

It's a little like playing an instrument. I don't know any instrumentalist who hasn't made mistakes on stage...often major ones (truth be told, often we make many more mistakes than the audience will ever realize). If you let fear of making mistakes or embarrassment at past mistakes become a factor, you get to the point where you can't force yourself onto the stage anymore. All the joy goes out of performing, and it becomes something to dread.

That doesn't mean that you stop practicing and trying to improve, or that you aren't thrilled when a performance goes off without a hitch. The music itself provides the impetus to improve...it's its own reward.

As I see it, language works the same way. I didn't invest all these years in learning Irish to speak it poorly, and I don't need fear or embarrassment to impel me to improve. For people like me, fear of making a mistake or embarrassment at past mistakes represent barriers, not motivation.

Redwolf