I'd highly recommend doing two things in parallel. 1. Read How to win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. 2. Try to talk to someone new every day.

I'd highly recommend doing two things in parallel. 1. Read How to win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. 2. Try to talk to someone new every day. On item 1 - I promise that it's not as lame as the title makes it sound. If you internalize the core advice behind this book it will drastically improve your life and it will make you a better person. On item 2 - don't go overboard with this. There's no need to go outside of your comfort zone. Instead just try stretching it a little. To get started don't walk up to people out of the blue and just start talking to them. Instead if you happen to be near someone, just make some observational remark to them and see how it plays out. Or alternatively if you're wondering about something, ask the person next to you. The goal shouldn't be to befriend every stranger you meet - but instead to have a very short chat and move on with your day. I recommend doing this while reading that book because it'll give you a chance to experience and observe some (most) of the things he talks about. Finally, you mentioned wanting to meet some ladies. Assuming that you mean you're looking to "play the long game" and find someone to settled down with, I'd strongly advise actually playing the long game. Don't make meeting women the focus of your social life. Instead focus on making substantiative friendships first and the relationship thing will sort itself out without much effort. That said, don't be too selective as far as gender goes. Don't avoid hanging out with guys because you think you won't meet girls, and definitely don't be that guy who only befriends girls just because you want to date them. If you do befriend a girl who you'd rather be dating, be honest with yourself and her as to what your intentions are. Remember that friendships aren't leverage and you'll do fine. Edit: One last thing... I'm not sure that this will help any, but language is really tricky. I'm an American living in New Zealand. I'm sure my language issues pale in comparison, but I am constantly second-guessing myself. It's not that I'm worried that people won't understand me, it's that I'd rather communicate in a way that's natural to the people who are listening to me -- I'm sure you can relate. What I'd say is that while there are a whole host of issues due to you being a non-native English speaker, there are a lot more issues that come from you being in a different country. Personally I'd advise focusing on the latter type of differences (they're more fun to me, anyway), and the language differences will follow. In turn, discussing those kinds of things with people is a great way to make friends.