I'm Japanese. This is based on my English study experience.

First, English and Japanese are completely different languages, so studying Japanese on and off for two years for you is still very short even for holding a conversation. Don't worry. I can see your experiences in Japan and in your class with your teacher. Just think it's like that, relax, and don't think too much.

I have worked in the US after studying English for about 10 years including school and self-study but in the US, I couldn't even order food at first.

About methods or tricks, I don't think they are difficult although it takes a very long time.

1. Master at least major grammatical rules. You don't need to stick to textbooks. You can pay attention to grammar in any situations; while you are reading Japanese or talking. Then, you'll eventually not think about grammar. For my English, 6-year study in school wasn't enough. I needed more.

2. Experience many situations and learn set phrases for them.

Books, TV, imagination, and etc., anything will do. You can also do this with 1. I wrote down all expressions I had not been able to say in specific situations where I had actually experienced and imagined. I still keep doing this.

I hope this helps.

Well done for doing your first lesson on Italki David that's amazing! This is a great topic you have written about as it holds back a lot of language learners that know a lot of English. I was reading an article earlier from 'Fluent in 3 months'. In the article it said how language learners always ask the author Benny Lewis what they can study to be better at speaking a language. He suggests learning some grammar etc as you develop but his main point was that no amount of studying will make you able to speak English as you will always be waiting for the right time when your English is "perfect" to be able to speak. In most schools you have so much time writing, reading and listening but very little speaking practice. Therefore it can be quite scary as it's not something you're used to doing but with practice it does get easier :) When you start to feel like you are about to freeze take your time and feel free to pause. Also try to be aware of your breathing - when we get anxious we don't breath as much and this affects our heart rate which puts us in a 'fight or flight' mode so our brain isn't able to think clearly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldNnKVGxabA However when we breath from our stomachs our heart rate corrects itself and we relax. Another good thing you can do in terms of preparation is to memorise sentences on a specific topic and then talk about this topic with your tutor. Talk about it in different tenses, get them to ask you questions about this topic etc By doing this you can repeat what you have learnt many times in the conversation so you become confident in this particular area. When you feel quite confident in this topic move onto another topic. This way you will gradually be able to cover all areas. By memorising whole sentences instead of individual words your brain will also naturally begin to learn grammar, to form sentences and remember words more easily . I hope this helps and that it makes sense! Have fun!!! :)

Examples, examples, and more examples! I highly recommend not just memorizing phrases but trying them! iTalki can definitely help - ask you professor/tutor to use a few examples with you. They will understand and help! Don't be afraid my friend.