Forgetting my native language Hello,&nbsp;I have noticed, in my journey to master Hindi/Urdu and learn Italian and Arabic, a phenomenon in which I have been forgetting words in English, my native lang

Kevin Reinstein

Forgetting my native language

Hello,

I have noticed, in my journey to master Hindi/Urdu and learn Italian and Arabic, a phenomenon in which I have been forgetting words in English, my native language.

I have always prided myself on an elaborate vocabulary but recently, I just can't think of certain words that I would have awhile ago. Yesterday I could not think of the word 'paradox', and today I could not think of 'appraisal.'

Has anyone else experienced this while learning a new language or since become a second-language learner in general?

Dec 26, 2015 5:34 PM

Comments · 8

yes it does happens. In India, the language of communication now is a hybrid of Hindi Urdu and English. Sometimes we just cant think of the words that are actually from Hindi, we are so habitual of words for them in English or URdu either. :0

January 1, 2016

well, i speak arabic, its not easy at all for u to eaven say the word correctly.. ur tang is not used to that kind of language.. u must make a huge effort to achive the point.. good luck.

December 28, 2015

It seems natural to me that we forget some of the words of our native language if we are not continuously using it in either our writing or reading. I seem to forget a lot of words from Urdu language after living in North America for around 2 decades now. In my experience it occurs when our "thinking" language changes. If we start thinking in foreign language (which at that point, ironically, is not so foreign).

January 27, 2016

I lived in Puerto Rico for only four months and forgot how to speak so many English words after adjusting to think in Spanish. In fact I would interject Spanish words into my letters home to my Mom and she doesn't know Spanish. Now I am trying to learn Hindi and I find I get all three languages mixed up in my mind sometimes. And, at first, I spoke Hindi with a Spanish accent.

January 12, 2016