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 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 word 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. 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 felt 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, 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 on myself and the desire to sound perfect in Spanish. I actually recently realized that I struggled with this 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 is 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 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. It's 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 $9.99, 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 pinned comment, and give Life XP a try. The next reason why I felt like I couldn't really talk to that hairstylist 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.

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 AI, 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. 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 to analyze the situation, I realized that, Oh my God, I had my phone 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, hairstyles, and stuff like that. And I feel like by the end of that lesson, I was like, I know everything. 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 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 pinned 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.

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

Scripts