Just got back from a few weeks in the south-west of France. I have been trying to speak more French while I was in the country and generally I've been successful. I am still suffering from a fear of not understanding or not being understood. I still need to practice each sentence in my mind repeatedly. And this is often for simple requests such as coffees or Perrier. Having said that, I'm not fond of ordering rounds of drinks in English as I tend to forget bits of the order.
Apart from cafes and restaurants, I have bought bread and patisserie and even items from the deli counter. Last year, the right words would have stayed in my head, ready to be used, but never leaving my mouth.
The low point (or most frightening) encounter was trying to ask for an orthopaedic knee bandage at the local chemist. I think the staff felt the same way as I did, as they engaged the customers in front of me in detailed explanations, politely hoping perhaps, that the monolingual tourists would go elsewhere. Finally, they called for a junior, who came to the counter to serve me. I carefully said my practised words, with focus on genou, pointed to the poster in the window advertising the orthopaedic bandages. I'm sure my French was neither elegant or grammatically correct, but the message was conveyed successfully.
The high point was at a book fair. I found a couple of books on how to speak Occitan. I collect language books, and I thought these were a real find. I handed over the money to the stall holder and in French she asked me if I was from the area. Before my brain had thought about the question, I heard my mouth say, also in French, that no, I was on holiday. For that brief moment, I spoke with confidence, no French to English, then English to French translations, just words and meanings. First steps towards fluency?