this is true.....buuuuuut, you do have to want to learn and make the effort, and also some people have a better ear for sounds and whatnot and are better than others for copying (essentially having a better accent when you speak a diff language--comes down to copying and rmemebering how a word is spoken).

as to the first point, about wanting to make the effort, about 30 years ago I was on an exchange program where I had the wonderful opportunity to learn French and Spanish. There were a couple of people in our group who just didnt do well, they weren't happy with things and were convinced it was too hard to learn another language, and so they didn't do well in this regard compared to others in the group.

My life experience with other languages is that you really need to throw away being concerned that you sound like an idiot, cuz you probably do, but thats ok. You just muddle through things and use what you know, and each day you pick up new words and your mouth muscles improve in making diff sounds you've never made before. It just takes time and its slow, but you just have to muddle your way through and dont worry about being bad at it.

Laugh at the whole thing, thats the only thing you can do, improve your miming skills and be friendly--thats the ticket.