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??
In: 9
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.
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