Hi, I’m from Malaysia, and my native language is Mandarin as well. I’ve lived in France and Spain for my studies, and now I’m working in Germany. I’ve had to learn several foreign languages just to get by. I wrote my master’s thesis and did the defense in French, and I had so many blocks and freezes during the defense that I actually cried for ten minutes afterward because I felt so embarrassed. In Spain, my education was in English, but I had to learn and use Spanish in daily life to survive, and to make friends so I wouldn’t feel so alone. Now in Germany, I use German for things like doctor visits and kindergarten communication. If I may offer a few thoughts based on my experience: •Accept the stuttering. I used to hide it and pretend I was fluent. But that wasn’t sustainable, and I blamed myself constantly for the blocks and freezes. Acceptance helped me start to heal. •Accept that stuttering can get worse in a second language. Speaking a foreign language takes more mental energy, thinking about vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. That added cognitive load affects fluency. •Try stuttering, instead of trying not to stutter. When I try to avoid stuttering and focus too much on being fluent, I tend to stutter even more. Sometimes, voluntary stuttering actually helps reduce the pressure. •Separate stuttering from your identity. Stuttering is just one part of us. It creates inconvenience, but it’s not the cause of all our problems. For example, we can still be good at foreign languages, grammar and vocabulary are separate from fluency. •Find a self-help group. Talking to others who stutter has really helped me release negative emotions and feel less alone. •Practice the language. We speak Mandarin easily because we’re confident in our understanding of the words, expressions, and nuance. To gain that confidence in another language, we need to learn and practice. I find ChatGPT voice mode really helpful, it feels like having a 24/7 language partner to practice any topic or situation. •Practice in daily life. I’ve learned to see speaking tasks as experiments rather than burdens. If I treat them like burdens, I procrastinate. If I see them as experiments, I’m more curious and open to how people react. These daily speaking tasks have helped me desensitize and reduce my speaking fear. Don’t hesitate to reply if you’d like to talk more, happy to share or listen.