Thank you for your comment, Jeff!

I don’t know much — if at all — about the Kyrgyz language but I suppose there must have been the added difficulty of it being a widely different pronunciation than Spanish. While Spanish is different from English, the pronunciation itself mostly contains sounds English speakers can imitate — although it does have some more challenging ones too.

As for the fear of embarrassment, I’ve found one trick to bypass it: practicing with other learners. Because both parties will be aware that mistakes will arise, there’s no judgment in general — instead, there’s support! It won’t solve everything but it builds up a bit of confidence and, over time, it might just be enough to give you the incentive to start practicing with a native speaker!