Asian Language help?

Question

Hello,Yahoo

I don't know whats wrong with me? My background is Vietnamese and Chinese and when i was little i use to speak it 24/7 and now when i'm 13 years old how come i forgot all my words :| Like i can speak more Chinese then Vietnamese but then i don't know how i just forgot ir all i spoke it all the time :| ..i also go to Vietnamese school now soso'm learning a bit.I can understand Chinese and Vietnamese if someone is talking to me but then i talk ENGLISH/Vietnamese or Chinese BACK TO THEM? i'm also Chinese/Cantonese =]

Please Tell me whats wrong?

Answer 1

In our brains, the areas that are in charge of understanding language (what happens when you hear someone speak a language) are separate from the areas that are in charge of producing language (when your brain causes you to speak). So, even if you are continually listening to the language if you don't force yourself to practice speaking it, you will slowly lose the ability to speak in that language even though you can still understand it when you hear it. That's what happened to you. Since you knew it before, though, it would probably be easy for you to relearn it.