I was reading Le Monde, a famous French newspaper, when I came across this headline: "Les « réformistes » se mobilisent contre le projet de loi travail." In my head I translated that as, "The 'Reformists' mobilize against the work law project." And then I paused, knowing this wasn't quite right. It wasn't until later when I was reading an English paper about the same topic and saw "labor law" that I realized that was the word I was looking for but couldn't quite reach.

I'm really concerned because this happens to me frequently. I feel like I have a large vocabulary, but also that my brain is wired to receive information, not produce it. If you ask me to define "adumbrate," "execrate," "gainsay," "prorogue," "supererogatory," "maladroit," "risible," or "usufruct," I could, but I would never think of those words on my own. Of course these are words would just get me mockery in anything outside of an academic context, but simultaneously I have difficulties with basic words like "labor" that everyone should know. Speech in particular I find to problematic; I often either make an incomplete sentence or change the syntax midway as I try to muddle my way through. I don't feel I had these difficulties when I was younger, and I'm somewhat at a loss how to fix it.