I am a girl and the only way to build confidence is to talk to them. You won't be able to get better at talking to them unless you actually practice and you can only do that by talking to them. It's a catch 22. Girls aren't harder to talk to than guys it's just that your putting too much pressure on yourself as to where the talking could lead to. You can start by talking to girls that you don't have an attraction to so you can see them just as another person and not an intimadating girl and then when you feel more confident you can more easily approach girls you are attracted to and see how that goes. You do not have to talk about anything inparticular just be yourself and you will be able to connect with others. Also just take a breath and relax, as you said your friends talk to girls and people everywhere talk to girls so don't make it too much of a big deal in your head.
Hope that helped you.
Good Luck.