Emotions are an inevitable part of every human experience. They are important for our psychophysical well-being and affect skills such as perception, expression, discernment and understanding. When learning a foreign language, there is often a fear of communication, a fear of tests and of negative evaluations, which can ultimately have a negative impact on academic success. The aim of this research is to examine the presence of the fear of using a foreign language among students and to relate it to the correlate of shyness. A total of 104 male and female students taking German as an elective subject at the University of Zadar participated in the research. The results showed that most students have a medium level of fear of using a foreign language, while female students have a higher level of fear of using a foreign language. The t-test showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the fear of German language classes in relation to gender. However, it was not possible to confirm a statistically significant association of fear with residence in a Germanspeaking area or the previous learning of the German language. Pearson’s correlation coefficient also did not show a statistically significant relationship between the fear of learning German as a foreign language and shyness.
