I (F22) have to learn a language for my PhD and I am genuinely terrified of failure.

I want to do a PhD in a field that is dominated by the USA. Because of this, most of the papers etc. are published in English. However, the university I want to go to is in Germany and they require you to speak a second language before finishing the PhD, usually in the last few years.<br><br>I have a medical condition that severely impairs my ability to learn new things, especially in categories I have issues in. I am German and I always had extreme difficulties in learning English in school, especially speaking. I have worked for more than a decade with a speech therapist and with a lot of effort, I can now understand English decently and I can write in English. My grammar, spelling and sentence structure aren't perfect, but I can manage and run it through grammar and spell check. However, my speech is extremely defective. The speech therapy did not help overly much with that. My condition is something that I can't overcome with work so easily, I have to use a lot of workarounds to do things. For example, I can't tie my shoes so I have to use shoes with velcro.<br><br>Because of this, I am absolutely terrified of not passing this exam in the last few years of my PhD. I worked so hard to get this far and the idea that I could potentially fail something like that is terrifying to me. I want to start my PhD in 2 years, so I have decided to start learning this language now, but my heart sinks every time I sit down to do it. <br><br>Has anyone else managed to learn a language with a handicap? What workarounds did you use? I am grateful for any advice.<br><br>&#x200B;