Why do some Spanish people understand English better than they speak it?

Question

I do not speak Spanish, (I am trying to learn), but I work with a lot of Spanish speaking people. It seems that the ones that are trying to learn English always understand what I am telling them, but can't tell me what I just said. Why is that?

Answer 1

Not only spanish people but anyone who are not fluent in a foreign languages, found difficulty in trying to express themselves.

Answer 2

"A first language (also native language, arterial language, L1, or mother tongue) is the language a person has learned from birth or speaks the best" "Sometimes the term mother tongue or mother language is used for the language that a person learnt at home (usually from their parents). Children growing up in bilingual homes can, according to this definition, have more than one mother tongue." So, I would say both could be called your first language, even though it might seem weird to have a second first language :) Or you could just call English your first language, if you speak it a lot better. But it seems like you can choose between English or Spanish or both. I can understand that you are confused.

Answer 3

It can be called 'performance anxiety'. I understand spoken or written Spanish much better than I can speak it. But that is because I am unsure of the words I want to use and how to phrase what I am saying properly. And with those doubts in my mind, I feel that if I make a mistake, the person I am speaking to will be hugely insulted or think I a goob.

Answer 4

It's not just Spanish-speaking people who are like this, it's anyone who is learning a foreign language. Anyone can recognize words said to them better than coming up with them themselves. My guess is that your memory is helped to recall a word's meaning by the clues based on context from the sentence. Sometimes it even happens in your own language - when a word is "on the tip of your tongue" - you know you know the word, and one someone else says it you can then recall it too.

Once you can come up with the words on your own, then you really know you have the words memorized!

Answer 5

Not only Spanish, but all languages. If you've studied a number of foreign words, and you want to use some of them to converse with one who speaks that language, sometimes that word will now come up in you memory, but if you hear the word, you get the meaning instantly.
It happens to you if you're learning their language. Or to them if they're learning yours.

Answer 6

The reason of this is because the more they hear english the more they know what the other person is talking about.They cant tell you because they dont know meaninds of wordsa just how to say them. I dont speak spanish but another language so im use to it.

Answer 7

is much easier understanding than speaking. specially around work, when you repeat the same order or they are told what to do, that more that understating the language, they associate it with their duties. Unless you start at an early age is n ot easy to learn any language

Answer 8

is that shocking? I'm trying to learn French, and I can understand what French people are saying to me much better than I can formulate my thoughts to them.

That's just how to the process of learning a language usually goes.

Answer 9

English as a second language is harder to learn,and harder to speak,in special the grammar.

Answer 10

this is because english is the one most complex languages