I’ve studied it off and on since high school, but really struggle with speak. I get anxious about the times and accidentally saying something nonsensical. But we had a family show up that didn’t speak English, and I was able to do more than crank out 谢谢。
Sounds similar to Japanese on that front. I took a course years ago and it was like: Here’s how to say “Excuse me,” here’s how to say “Thank you,” and here’s how to say, “No actually my Japanese is terrible and I am like a baby” lmao