Why can I understand tamil but not speak it?
Born in Sri Lanka, moved to the UK before my 2nd birthday. I understand tamil perfectly. I even went to tamil school and can read as well. But for some reason I dont know how to speak. Its like I know what to say in my head, but I cant pronounce the words out loud to make a coherent sentence. My question is, why? Its not like other bilinguals have to study their language, they just pick it up from the parents. Why couldn't I do the same?