Learning a new language can be not only difficult and frustrating, but embarassing!  Since 2005 I have been trying to learn the Czech language, and the results of my efforts have given my Czech friends much to laugh about. 

For example, they will never let me forget the time I went into a Hospoda and asked the bartender for "green" wine!  Or the time I told my boyfriend's Czech mother that the soup she was cooking "stank" beautifully.  Or the first thing I ever said to a Czech stranger:  "I don't know.  Czech!" instead of "I don't understand Czech!"  I will never forget that poor woman's look of utter confusion.

Making mistakes in a new language can be embarassing, but as a language teacher and student, I have found that it is better to make a mistake than to say nothing at all.  In EFL teaching, we like to hear students make mistakes, because we see it as a sign of learning.  We usually make mistakes when we are trying out a new lexical item or grammar structure, and it is only through this experimentation that we will learn! 

So my advice to language learners is: don't be afraid to make mistakes while learning a language.  It will help you in the long term - and may even give you something to laugh about in the future.