I had an Instagram Live with a Japanese person for the first time. When she accepted the collab request, she was expecting it to be a Japanese person, but she was surprised when it was a foreigner. Even more so when I started speaking Japanese.

I just had an [**Instagram Live**](https://twitter.com/Himanshu_Doi/status/1589661122625691649) with a Japanese pro-wrestler that I have been following for many years. She was accepting Instagram Live collaborations from her followers. She was expecting it to be a Japanese person, but was surprised when a foreigner showed up. She started with English asking, “Can you speak Japanese?” and when I started speaking Japanese, I was quick to get “nihongo jouzu’d”.

Although my Japanese still isn’t good enough, it is fun to talk to Japanese people because they’re usually very patient and praise you a lot. I definitely recommend people who are learning the language to try speaking in Japanese and build more confidence through apps like HelloTalk regardless of how little confidence they might have in their speaking ability.