Hello, I'm having an issue with explaining to someone how I forgot my first language. I was born in South Korea and came to the united states when I was seven years old. Immediately my mother's husband told my mother never to speak to me in korean so I can learn english, even though children can easily absorb another language. What happened is I ended up forgetting almost completely except for a few words my first language because no one was speaking to me in that language at all. My friend does not understand this and can't believe it because I spoke that language at least for the first seven years. I tried explaining that those I know who can speak both languages from childhood either have someone who speaks that language in the house to them or have someone they converse with or hear the language from. He still cannot understand this and believes I am lying. Also, my relatives who came later after adulthood can speak both languages but they consistently converse with someone in their first language. I am not lying, i would love to be able to speak two or more languages but I cannot remember it as if I never spoke the language. He also does not understand how I can remember communication in the first language but can't speak that language. I can remember what they meant as if they were speaking english in my mind but i think that is how the brain is wired even though I cannot recall the words in that language.
That language is still there. There's an entire area of your brain dedicated to it. But since you don't use it, the paths to that area have closed off due to lack of traffic. But I promise you this: If some day you were dropped off in a remote Korean village where no one speaks English, within a couple of hours you'd begin understanding a bit of what the people are saying. By tomorrow you'd be able to talk back in simple sentences, and by the end of the week you'd be very close to the same level of fluency you had at age seven: a vocabulary of a couple of thousand words, a perfect accent, and grammar with no mistakes, although also with no subtleties. In other words, the paths into that area will reopen. The sounds of Korean will wake up that part of your brain and after a little exercise, it will be as good as new. I studied German in college, but I lived in a place (Los Angeles) where no one speaks German. After college I never had a chance to use the language again. Ten years later I took my dream vacation: a motorcycle ride across Europe. I landed in Munich, to pick up my BMW at the factory. All the way across the city on the bus, I heard nothing but German. I walked into the BMW office where everyone was speaking German. I wasn't worried because I was sure the man behind the counter could speak English and was ready for us American tourists. But he didn't recognize me as an American and he addressed me in German. Without realizing it, I answered him in German! I carried on a long conversation in German, although for him it was like talking to a seven-year-old kid. This was 1973, when most of the adults in Europe spoke German because they had learned it at gunpoint in World War II. I found myself speaking German everywhere I went because, in those days, hardly anyone knew any English. Riding a German motorcycle with a German license plate, everyone assumed I was German. The Germans and Austrians knew better, of course, but they weren't quite sure what my native language was because they never heard me speak English. You'll have the same experience, if you're ever in a similar situation. Don't worry, you'll never really forget your first language. It's like riding a bicycle.
