You just start. Doesn't matter if you make tons of mistakes or cant think of what to say. The important thing is just doing it. Then you can start building momentum and having more natural conversations :)

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear" 

Ada...

Your Chinese plus your English skills are better than my English plus Chinese language skills, so I should be shy.

But I remind myself that 'trying to do something' is more important than 'how well I do the thing I am trying to do'.

Anyone who tries to do something new deserves to be respected.

Simple questions often start a conversation.

If someone asked me a simple question like "Richard, do you like to eat squid?", then I could talk for 30 minutes on that subject :)

Simple questions and simple answers (with or without mistakes) are all we need to have a nice, helpful conversation.

@Ada: if you're shy, try caring less about what other people think of you. If you don't know what to talk about, just ask questions until you find a common interest. Language learning and different cultures are good bets here ^^

Congrats you have just started 5 conversations with total strangers. Now you can take a position of an expert and start advising people on how to do it.

Just Start.Its normal to make mistakes while learning;just like it is normal to fall while riding a bicycle.People wil understand that your are new to the language.