My friends speak Dutch and for a while. I’ve been trying to learn Dutch. We can text in Dutch (very casually) and when they speak to me in Dutch I am able to understand what they are saying (or at least pick it apart to understand generally what they are saying) . but when it comes to me trying to say Dutch words or speak Dutch my brain all of a sudden has no memory of everything I’ve learned.
I have a friend also whos mom speaks Portuguese and he understands her completely but he responds in English and doesn’t really speak Portuguese himself?
Why does this happen??
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Very basically, there’s more work for your brain to come up with an idea, translate it to a non-native language, and then verbalize it than it is to hear or see it and translate it. Having been to the Army language school, I learned translating “from” a foreign language is easier than translating to that same language. And nonverbal translation (reading, texting) is even easier as there’s more time to process, where as listening and especially speaking are more “on the fly”
For me it’s partly confidence. When I write in a second language I can pause and think. Substitute words for ones I know will make sense. But also it’s not me face to face so I’m not so nervous.
Speaking is you putting yourself out there. However much your friends or colleagues or whomever are helpful and uncritical it’s still easy to feel judged. That might just be me though.
It is a lot harder to create sentences in a speaking tempo, than it is to just write something.
Basically your brain needs more computing power, especially when you don’t do it as often.
Speaking, writing and listening (understanding) are all different processes in our brains.
Writing and reading works with our capacity of understanding visual signs. Being visual animals, we are quite good at recognizing patterns. Repeating them, specially in our digital age, is much easier.
Listening is about interpreting sounds to make a meaningful message. Since we are always using that to receive feedback from the world, it comes more easily. By listening to another language, you get used to the sounds, which explains the friend responding in a different language.
Speaking depends on forethought, since you have to choose the words before speaking, then try to mimic the sounds, both with unfamiliar logic.
There’s passive and active vocabulary. you can understand passive vocabulary but wouldn’t be able to use it in spontaneous speech. Think of watching a science lecture in your native language where you’ll understand 95% of fancy words used but a lot of them are probably not in your everyday vocabulary. In a language you’re learning, all words you “learn” are in this category at first, you only know them passively. To get better, you need to practice speaking until they come to you automatically, at this point these words are in your active vocabulary. Reading and listening are passive vocab usage, while writing gives you loads more time to think of what words you need to use. Also there’s usually more practice of writing since all workbooks, writing exercises etc don’t practice speaking, just writing
One one level, speaking (as is writing) requires creating content following rules. It’s easier to read or hear it and understand because you don’t need to actively create that content (and frankly as you alluded to, you can even miss parts of it and fill it in with context). So this is a bit like watching a movie again that you saw a while ago. You might not be able to recount the story itself, but as you’re watching it, it’s coming back and making sense to you as it happens again, and you could probably miss bits of it and still know what’s happening in a way that might be more difficult from scratch.
It’s also speak and room for error. When you’re writing, you have time to collect your thoughts and self-correct at really whatever speed you need. When speaking, you’re beholden to basically maintain the speed of normal speech and also, especially when you’re not confident, it feels like trying to do two things at once – especially if subconsciously you’re doing what most language teachers try to get you not to (thinking in your first language and translating rather than just going for it in another language – this is actually also where a lot of lapsed native speakers, like kids whose parents taught them another language they don’t know well anymore struggle – they never learned the rules so they only know it as just speaking and it’ll come out – except it doesn’t come out).
Also a lot of it is confidence – you’ll find a lot of secondary language learners get a lot better at speaking when they’re drunk. Sometimes it’s easy to get in your own head about messing up, which makes you mess up more.
Also, some of the sounds may not just come naturally based on their use or how they’re used in your own language. Tonal languages for example can be very difficult for non-native speakers to even hear the difference in. But also just stuff like French ‘r’s or rolling Spanish ‘r’s’ can be difficult for native English speakers because they don’t use those sounds regularly.
In addition to all the new neural pathways you need to retain the info, you need to connect that to your mouth and worry about saying it properly. People who speak different languages hold their mouths in different ways that facilitate the specific sounds of their language. The tongue can hinge in the front, middle or back. The sides of the tongue can be held to the teeth or not, the lips purse in different ways. Throw in some sounds that your language doesn’t even remotely make and your brain has a lot of wiring to do.
Also, Dutch is a hard language to learn. The different voices we make with our mouth need to be practised, a lot. When listening to Dutch people you might recognise the words, because that information is stored in your brain. How to actually speak it correctly, you need to learn how to position your mouth/tongue and that information is stored in your muscle memory.
Try to speak as much dutch as you can is the way to go.
Greetings, Dutchy
Speaking a language, and reading/writing that language are two seperate skills.
It’s possible for you to be able to speak and understand English, without knowing how to spell, read or write – if you were never taught.
You have spent more time practicing and learning one skill (reading/writing) than the other (speaking).
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