It is almost universally the case that one is much slower at speaking than understanding in any language - that is also the case with infants learning their first language. I should warn you that the French have a strong reputation for being very snooty about their language not being spoken perfectly as a native of France. I recall a French Canadian I know who's first language is French leaving France early on his first (and I believe only) visit to the country because he could not stand their looking down on him for his accent and vocabulary, including pretending they could not understand him at all. But there are those in France who (like those of other language backgrounds) admire foreigners for trying to speak their language.
Also, French is not a very difficult language as such (apart from pronunciation to satisfy the French) and English is one of the easiest to learn as a second language - that is why it has become so widely accepted (there are almost no grammatical challenges). You have already been well advised: Keep at it, try to find opportunities to converse with someone who is a native speaker. Oh, the French absolutely loathe anglo-saxon pronunciation of French as typified by "ay" at the ends of words like bouquet, fiancé, voulez, etc. Get that right and you will really be taken notice of.