Non-Native Speakers Speaking Out

One of the blogs I frequent is Lingual Bee. His post on January 25th 07 entitled "The Advantages of Talking to Other Non-Native Speakers" was great. I work with a guy from Malaysia who speaks Mandarin and English fluently. My Chinese instructor is the same, fluent in both (with some knowledge of French and Cantonese thrown in) and I am intimidated speaking to them both. However I don't feel the same pressure with my classmates and am generally encouraged in those rare moments when we share a word or two.