Episode 125 - What Do You Do When You Forget a Word in English?

So we've all had this situation, you're in the middle of a conversation, you're flowing, you're making your point, and suddenly you hit a wall.

Your brain freezes because you're looking for one specific complex word or a particular grammatical structure that you are not sure of.

You can see it in your native language, but it's stuck behind a locked door in your English brain.

So what do you do? You stop dead.

You look at the ceiling.

You start to feel flustered.

You say, um, ah, and you go hunting for it.

And while you're hunting, the momentum of the conversation dies.

You look stressed, and the person you're talking to is just sitting there waiting.

Now, when this happens, most people think, ah, I have to memorize more words.