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
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”
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