> Language forgetting is like this: a very gradual process that happens over many years. Someone who isn’t using a language forgets individual words far more quickly than they forget grammar and pronunciation, and the ability to understand a language will stick around a long time even if someone loses their ability to speak it.
I speak Japanese as a second language and I've been in situations where I spoke very little English for extended periods of time. I've never worried about "forgetting" English but I've certainly lost easy mental access to certain words in English, where the Japanese comes much more readily.
It's super strange when that happens and I'm searching for a word in my own native language.
I speak Japanese as a second language and I've been in situations where I spoke very little English for extended periods of time. I've never worried about "forgetting" English but I've certainly lost easy mental access to certain words in English, where the Japanese comes much more readily.
It's super strange when that happens and I'm searching for a word in my own native language.