This might sound weird at first but hear me out please
I work with a Hungarian man, he speaks English and he stutters heavily while doing so , but he does not stutter in his mother tongue at all.
How is it possible that this can happen to him in one but the other language ?
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https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stuttering/symptoms-causes/syc-20353572
Stuttering has many different causes and types. There is the genetics angle, which would mean the stutterer would stutter in every language they speak, but there is also the anxiety and emotional distress, or lack of confidence. My brother, for example, only stammers when he is really nervous or scared. It is possible that this gentlemen stammers when speaking English because he is unsure of the language or lacks fluidity. There’s also the Christopher Walken phenomenon. He speaks with all those pauses because when he was taught English as a young child, that’s how his parents spoke, they were constantly searching for the next word. So now, even though he is fluent, he speaks with constant pausing and trailing off.
https://www.cracked.com/article_29813_why-christopher-walken-talks-like-that.html
In short, there are several theories why your coworker stutters in only one language, but it’s hard to know for sure. Of course, it’s possible he does suffer in Hungarian, just not very often (like my brother, only when he’s very stressed), which would make more sense.
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