Why you can’t remember words while speaking (and how to fix that)

you struck up a conversation in a foreign language  and then this happens you don't remember a  

specific word you panic you feel bad you start  overthinking it you doubt your language skills  

you think you should just quit this is something  that was going through my mind a few weeks ago  

when I had a very stressful interaction with a  hair stylist yeah the story is pretty interesting  

because I live in Mexico City I'm learning Spanish  right now so I decided to go get get a haircut but  

before that I actually wanted to make sure that  this hair salon had specific hair treatments that  

I was interested in and I walk in I'm all happy  you know I was going to talk to this amazing  

hair stylist right now and then I find myself  totally blinking out what I mean is I couldn't  

say I need a haircut I couldn't ask oh what kind  of hair treatments do you guys have here I did not  

remember any word connected to hair hairstyles and  hair treatments and it was just like um so my hair  

um blonde uh dry uh get a haircut so it was just a  bunch of random words and I couldn't connect them  

together so what did I learn from that interaction  why couldn't I remember words while I was talking  

to that person I think the first reason was  definitely limited vocabulary I just didn't  

know enough vocabulary connected to the topic  of hair and hair styling and it was totally okay  

again instead of approaching the situation as oh  my God it's the biggest problem ever I saw this as  

an opportunity to grow I was like okay I don't  know a lot of words that are connected to hair  

hair styling let me learn them because I know that  once I learned them I'm going to feel a lot more  

confident a small vocabulary restricts War choices  leading to difficulty in finding the right words  

and it happens to every single language learner  out there so when I came back home I watched a  

bunch of videos about hair in Spanish about hair  treatments hairstyles so that I could feel more  

confident I messaged my teacher and I was like  hey please can you prepare a lesson for me about  

hair everything connected to hair and my Spanish  teacher was kind enough to do so and I was so  

grateful I memorized all the words and now I knew  what I wanted to say and I feel confident in my

words the next reason was definitely the anxiety  and the stress that I was experiencing in the  

moment to be completely honest now thinking  back back I could have expressed myself in a  

good way even with the limited vocabulary that  I had at the time I knew all the basic words  

and honestly they could have been enough like  to cut or cool or yellow the only problem at  

the time were the high expectations that I put in  myself and the desire to sound perfect in Spanish  

I actually recently realized that I struggled  with this like problem like high expectations  

a lot and as a language learner it is definitely  not serving me I can expect to know all of these  

words connected to hair in Spanish because I'm  not a native Spanish speaker but yet sometimes  

I do and analyzing all of those situations all of  my past experiences helped me understand why I had  

those high expectations and how to deal with them  and one important thing that I've come to realize  

that I was actually afraid of making mistakes  I want it to sound perfect in Spanish all the  

time and even though on this YouTube channel I  talk about it this all the time you know it's  

okay to make mistakes sometimes it's easier said  than done and now I always try to remind myself  

that mistakes are all a part of the journey and  the platform life XP really helped me here with  

life XP you can learn at your own pace without the  pressure of having to be perfect right away their  

experienced tutors understand that everyone learns  differently and they're here to support you every  

step of the way whether you're just starting with  a new language or looking to improve your skills  

like I was with Spanish life XP offers one-on-one  lessons with native speaking tutors from all  

around the world you can practice speaking  in a supportive and encouraging environment  

where making mistakes is not only accepted but  encouraged is a crucial part of the learning  

process life XP also has amazing filters that help  you find a tutor based on your hobbies interests  

and goals so you'll be able to find someone with  whom you feel completely comfortable and here is  

the best part your first trial lesson is only 99  and if you decide to subscribe with my link you  

will receive a 30% discount so make sure to use  my link in the description under this video and  

in the pin comment and give life XP a try the  next reason why I felt like I couldn't really  

talk to that hair stylist was because of the  interference of my native language in that moment  

I honestly felt like I knew all the words in  English I knew all of those words in Russian  

and honestly it's pretty funny how like I knew  the words in English even though English is not  

my native language but of course right now my  English level is a lot higher than my Spanish  

level but I feel like also because I put too  much pressure on myself I couldn't just take  

a second and tell that lady in Spanish that I'm  sorry I'm not from here I'm studying Spanish but  

right now I forgot all the words can you please  help me unfortunately in that situation using  

English was not an option for me because she  told me she didn't speak English so I had to  

rely on my Spanish and probably that's also  another thing that was increasing the pressure  

and I felt like oh my God Spanish is the only  language I can use right now so take a moment  

to get yourself out of that negative Loop of  comparing all the languages you're learning  

and feeling like oh my God in this language I  could have said it perfectly in this language  

I can barely say it it is absolutely okay every  single language you're learning is a New Journey  

and you're at different stages of every single  Journey if it's possible you can ask this person  

to switch to a different language and explain to  them that you are a learner you're only learning  

this language you can also always use Google  Translate deep Al or chat GPT to help you here  

don't freeze that's exactly what happened to me  I froze and I was like that's it like I don't  

know how to say this word and I can't do anything  about it no there's so many different things you  

can do and when I started analyze the situation I  realized that oh my God I had my phone like almost  

in my hand I could have opened Google translate  and translated all of these words from English to  

Spanish okay now I think we can talk about the  biggest reason why I kind of struggled at that  

moment I think I just didn't have enough speaking  practice and especially enough speaking practice  

that is connected to this specific topic of hair  treatments haircuts stuff like that when I came  

back home I realized that I had never actually  talked about my hair in Spanish like ever not only  

did I have limited vocabulary in this topic but I  also never even talked about it so what I did was  

I booked a lesson with my teacher and you can do  the exact same thing on life XP and choose fashion  

as your interest for example and I just spent an  hour talking to my teacher about haircuts hair  

treatments hair styles and stuff like that and  I feel like by the end of that lesson I was like  

I know everything like I feel extremely confident  and I know that now I can explain that my hair is  

blonde that I need this that I need a haircut it  helped me so much did I feel confident after this  

class I sure did so it's not just about speaking  practice in general sometimes we need to talk  

about a specific topic to get fully comfortable  and learn new words because living in Mexico City  

almost every single day I interact with people  in Spanish I do get speaking practice in Spanish  

the problem was I don't get a lot of speaking  prti practice about hair in Spanish but now I  

did and I feel a lot more confident so I think  it's going to be it for this video for my story  

I hope you guys learn something new if you like  this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up  

and subscribe to this YouTube channel only for  you guys watching this video life XP is giving  

a 30% discount if you just have to subscribe  make sure to use the link in my description  

and in the pin comment if you're thinking about  what to watch next you can check out the video  

where I challenged myself to speak Spanish for 24  hours this video was posted 5 months ago so enjoy

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