Talk in Polish Language
It is said that the first impression is very important; it certainly seems to be so with speaking. Two strangers meet, one speaks the language of the other albeit not well, so they speak that language. The situation changes and the second wishes to learn the language of the first, but both of them have a problem because neither of them feels at ease speaking a different language to a person that they already associate with a specific language.
This is a difficulty met by many couples of different nationalities and often it requires considerable perseverance to overcome it. So if you feel strange attempting to speak Polish to someone, to whom you have hitherto always spoken English; you may rest assured that this is a normal experience. I hope that knowing this is a comfort even if it does little to solve the problem.
It is possible, in fact probable, that one will always have traces of one’s first language, English, discernable in one’s Polish accent. Do not worry about this, you are speaking Polish, you are not trying to pretend that you were born and educated in Poland. Poles, who settled in Britain, still retained a touch of a Polish accent after forty years.
Speaking is rather like riding a bicycle, the first time someone rides a bicycle they go very slowly and wobble a lot. They may even lose their balance and to put a foot on the ground to prevent themselves from falling over. But after a few more experiments and they are soon racing along without a care in the world. That is the way with speaking, of course you will make mistakes. The mistakes are not important, it is important that you are making yourself understood when speaking Polish to someone else. It is to be understood that is important when speaking. Making improvements in accent, vocabulary, grammar and delivery will all come later once you have become used to just speaking the language aloud to somebody else.
Once you have started, do not stop. If at all possible speak Polish for an hour, or better two hours daily. The essence of language is use and familiarity, nobody would expect a radio to work if it had not been switched on for a year. If a car stands for three weeks it may not start. It is important that as soon as possible, a student speaks the language without thinking about it. Some people are more self-conscious than others; some are very frustrated because they are unable to express themselves with the adult fluency that they take for granted in English.
Will you allow yourself to be thwarted by vanity or by stage fright? Of course not, though it is quite normal for these considerations to make taking the first steps more difficult for some than for others. But you are not negotiating a mortgage or giving testimony in a court of law. History records that some in this situation had proposed marriage, it is also recorded that the great majority of those proposals were accepted.