Do you ever forget some words in your native language?

[Mafdet]

I've had situations in which it was easier for me to express myself in English than in my own language. I can't say I forgot words in my native language though. I'm not sure if this counts as forgetting. It did become a habit though to say half of the sentence in my native language and the other half in English.

[darknessassassin]

Yes, I very often catch myself in situation that I know certain word in English but I don't know it in my native language (Croatian). I guess this happens because I think in English and I even use English more than I use my native language.

[jillanntan]

Yes, this happens to me a lot. I'm bilingual and where I live it is normal to mix two languages in one sentence. When I get used to speaking a word in the other language all the time, I forget how to say it in the other language. It gets confusing too sometimes.

I guess this would happen more often if you live in a different country that uses a different language than your native language. For example, I have friends who moved to generally English speaking countries. Now they talk to me in English more when before they would talk to me in our native tongue. When they come to visit, they seem to have a hard time articulating what they want to say in our native language.

[Rosa]

It would be a little strange to forget words in my native language unless maybe I wasn't using it much. I think the words in my native language are somewhat basic too, so that makes it hard to forget. I think this would  more likely happen to a child who doesn't know all the vocabulary yet.

[Chris_A]

I definitely think that you can forget a lot of what you once knew in terms of your native language if you are not exposed to it at all. But I don`t think you can totally forget how to speak it. It also depends on how long you have been using it before moving to a place that does not expose you to it at all.

[Emmanuel]

Yes, all the time. I'm ashamed to admit my french has gotten significantly worse since I moved away from home, and I often struggle to find the words I'm looking for. Luckily I live in a bilingual city and "Franglish" is an accepted language.

[Ebelle]

Even if I'm not studying Japanese, I constantly forget words, haha. Though, if I watch anime for too long, I end up almost accidentally saying the Japanese word instead of the English word. At least I'm learning, I suppose.

[dorannmwin]

I think that this is something that happens to all of us from time to time. I know sometimes when I am talking about something I will lose the word that I'm looking for in English and I will have to describe the word and it will eventually come back to me.

[GingerSpice]

Yep, sometimes I know exactly the right word I'm trying to think of to convey what I'm trying to say, but I just can't think of it. I end up saying, "oh, what's that word? You know what I mean." in the middle of my sentence, haha. Most of the time people know what I'm talking about though, and I'm just trying to use a more eloquent word than necessary.

[trenchant]

Yes! This actually happens to me all the time, and this problem only gets worse the more languages I learn.  :cry:

Especially when I'm speaking English - often, there is a specific word or feeling I'll be trying to express, but I end up blurting out a word in Chinese instead because I can't think of the English equivalent.

In addition, learning Spanish messed up my English spelling skill pretty badly, since a few words look quite similar in the two languages. I'll never be certain how to spell "professor" the right way now, for example.

[jfab]

As a matter of fact I do. There are times that I will really need to find a dictionary to look for it. It happens if it's your native tongue.

[secretgoldfish]

This happens a lot to me with english, since I'm not a native speaker, but I use it so often online. Some words or expressions aren't even translatable to my native language, and more often than not I'll find myself trying to use them without really knowing how to say it in my language.

[Oogles]

This happens to me all the time and to make matters worse I didn't even know I forgot what the word is until I needed to write a paper for school. LOL! It's weird when you have to ask your professor to translate from English to your language and you get asked if you didn't live in your country since you were young and you actually grew there and have never left the country since birth. LOL!

[Wolf]

Only all the time, lol. There are some cases in which I get so desperate I google something like "what is the word that's like when you ___", it's really frustrating sometimes. xD

[Rosyrain]

This happened to me when I stared to learn Spanish.  I spent so much time trying to learn and practice the language that I started to intermix English and Spanish words.  It was quite funny to my friends and family.  Sometimes when I am looking for something in the store, I think about it in my mind in Spanish and not English.

[trenchant]

This happens to me all the time, and only gets worse the more languages I learn, haha.

There's been a word I've been trying to think of for a long time now - I know it starts with a W, and means "deserving of being hanged." It's definitely an archaic word that hardly anyone uses anymore, though, so it's not easy to look up. I just can't remember the word, exactly! It's quite frustrating.

[wander_n_wonder]

I don't really forget some of the words in my native language, especially when I have used most of them quite often in the past.  However, what I notice to be doing is using some words wrong or pronouncing them wrongly, especially since I have been using English as my main language for quite a while now. 

[Flopster]

Yes all the time! It's less "Oh no I've officially forgotten this word and I need to learn how to use it all over again!" and more "Oh, what was that word....ah yes that was it!". Usually I just need a small prompt from another person but sometimes I'll just 'skip' the word until I remember it.

[karean]

Filipino is our national language but the Philippines is estimated to have around 120 to 175 languages and 13 of which are considered major languages with at least one million native speakers. Of those, I know only one language which is my native language Waray as well as its two dialects.

I would claim that I never forget some words from my local language but when an acquaintance randomly asks what's the Waray equivalent is of a Filipino word I sometimes couldn't recall it. It's probably because I have been out of touch with my roots since I went to college here at the capital of the country.

  :frozen:  :cry:  :speechless:

[Bobcar23]

I definitely forget some of the more confusing words in my native language. Sometimes it's really hard to remember the right word to use especially if you're trying to explain something.

[Enlil]

I definitely get into a habit where the foreign word is more readily available in the mind than the word in my native language. Sometimes when I talk to my family for example my brain automatically tells me what I want to say in German and then I have to stop and translate it back into English and it can cause a bit of a delay when I'm trying to get back into the habit. That said, I don't think I've ever completely blanked on a regular word.

[Trellum]

I definitely get into a habit where the foreign word is more readily available in the mind than the word in my native language. Sometimes when I talk to my family for example my brain automatically tells me what I want to say in German and then I have to stop and translate it back into English and it can cause a bit of a delay when I'm trying to get back into the habit. That said, I don't think I've ever completely blanked on a regular word.

Omg!  I thought this didn't happen to a lot people!!!! Thank you..!!!  This very same thing happens to me a lot!  Some people here don't get it and think I'm just being an idiot who wants to show off she can speak English, lol.  Its just I can't help it!  Because for some reason I'm unable to find certain words in my native language (sometimes) and it seems a coincidence but the word for that thing I've in my mind can only be found in English at the moment.