Is it abnormal to be able to speak and understand a language fluently but read and write very poorly?

Question

I am obviously fluent in english, the language I was talking about is russian. I can speak and understand it perfectly(my family and friends do not understand english so I have to speak to them in russian) but I can only read and write very slowly with usually many mistakes. I get many strange looks when I try to pronounce store names in the russian district of the city because I am 15 and they expect me to be able to read well.

Is this abnormal in any language?

Answer 1

Not "abnormal" precisely. Speaking a language and reading/writing in it are two very different skills, and if you are only (or primarily) exposed to the spoken version of the language, you won't learn the written version; at least, not very well. That appears to be what has happened in your case. Essentially, you know the Russian language, but are illiterate in it. I'm sure that, if you put in the effort, you could learn the written language fairly quickly. You'd just need an excuse to use it.

Answer 2

Some languages never developed a writing system (hence, some of their history and traditions are based through word-of-mouth), so it definitely isn't abnormal. What actually is abnormal is having to write a language; everybody is "prewired" to learn a language from birth, but writing/reading is something we must train ourselves to do and doesn't come as naturally as language acquistion.

I grew up around Thai and I read and write it pretty well, and I am better at it than speaking the language. I get funny looks when I try to pronounce something (I usually say the word with a wrong tone), but I can write it and have them understand what I mean to say. At first it depressed me, but I have gotten used to it. At least you know Russian, even if you can't read or write it. :) Many people here can't speak more than one language fluently.

Answer 3

I'm just the opposite with French. I can read and write it very well, but I don't speak it well or understand it when people speak it to me.

You have obviously had to learn to language to be able to communicate with people, but perhaps you were never really taught to read or write it. I assume you have just learned from living in the area, you haven't taken any formal classes to learn the language. If that is the case, then no, I don't think that is abnormal. Think of how many English speakers speak English well, but read and write poorly.

Answer 4

No it is not abnormal, in fact I am in the exact same situation. My family is from south Africa and we speak Swahili at home. But since my family came to the states when I was so young I learned to read and write at English schools. I can still speak the language very fluently since it is the only language spoken at home but can neither read it or write. I believe it all comes down to this, Do you use it or not? Since I use the language on a daily basis to speak to my family I speak it fluently but since I never actually read or write in it I seem like a four year old trying to read or write when i read/write in Swahili.

Answer 5

abnormal? No. Illiterate? Possibly.

Take as an example the millions of illegal mexican immigrants in the USA. All of them can speak and understand Spanish perfectly. However, many of them cannot read or write Spanish.

Answer 6

Absolutely. It is often the case with Europeans speaking an Asian language. When I started forgeting Chinese (my first language), the first thing to go was writing, then reading, then conversation.

A lot of Westerners learn Pinyin but not the traditional characters themselves.

Answer 7

Yes, I have a Mexican friend who when he went to take the Border Patrol test, had a difficult time. He can speak it, but can't read or write it very well. That's a big part of the test!

Answer 8

It's not abnormal, unfortunately. Look at how many adults who were born and raised speaking english, that can't read or write.

Answer 9

No, there are a lot of people who can communicate verbally but not in reading/writing.

There are also people who can read/write, but can't speak a language.

Answer 10

I speak/read and write Finnish, Swedish, English and Russian and I also know some basic German, Portuguese and Estonian. I am Finnish