Hello there. I am an American (24 m) and I am studying in France for the next 2 years in an international program, meaning that my classes are all in English. Appart of my program is a big group project with some of French students that ends in 6 months. On my orientation day (3~ weeks ago) I joined a group who’s project I thought I could provide the most value to. In this group there is a French girl who I have slowly developed a crush on. I have had a few light conversations with her. I would like to ask her out on a date and get to know her more. But there are two glaring issues I have.

  1. There is a pretty significant language barrier. I don’t speak good French. (I am currently learning but I’m still at the early beginner stages.) She has told me she doesn’t speak good English and is shy about speaking English. I let her know that’s totally ok and lightly joked that she speaks more English than I speak French.

  2. I don’t want things to go south and have tension in the group and make the rest of the time working on the group project a bit weird. I’m not sure if this concern is valid or if it’s something I am using as an excuse.

What should/can I do?

A bit of background that might be helpful. It’s been 2 years since I’ve been in a relationship. And 5 years since I’ve had to ask someone out. I wanted to make sure I was ready and fully ‘healed’ from my last relationship before I got into another relationship. So it’s been a while since I’ve asked anyone out in general. Hence why I’m posting. I would’ve posted this to r/askSeddit but it unfortunately has been banned.

TLDR: I want to ask a girl out, but there’s a significant language barrier. And it’s been 5 years since I’ve asked someone out.