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- Native language attrition is a neurological process involving reduced access, not deletion.
- Complete loss of native language is rare, but partial attrition is more common, especially in early childhood.
- Environmental immersion in a second language is the biggest driver of native language decline.
- Children are more vulnerable to native language loss due to developing neural pathways.
- Bilingualism may weaken native language fluency but enhances cognitive abilities like flexibility and memory.
Can You Forget Your Native Language?
You might have experienced it yourself—struggling to find a simple word in your native language after years of speaking another one. Maybe you’ve wondered: Can someone really forget the language they first spoke? The answer takes us into the interesting science of linguistics, memory, and brain plasticity. This event is called native language attrition, and it shows a great deal about the human brain, how memory works, and the ways our surroundings shape us.
Defining Native Language Attrition
Native language attrition is what we call the decrease in skill or total loss of a person’s first language (L1), usually because it is not used over time. It is not like second language loss, where someone might never become truly fluent; knowledge of a native language is often fixed from early childhood. However, when people are in a place where their second language (L2) is all around them, the brain connections for L1 can become harder to reach.
This event can show itself in different ways, such as
- Pausing when saying words that used to be easy
- Mistakes in grammar or how sentences are put together
- Trouble recalling certain words
- Feeling distant emotionally when using the native language
Rather than completely erasing knowledge, attrition in native language feels more like your brain has filed things away in a storage area that is not used often. The knowledge is still present—less easy to get to, harder to find—but not gone.
Is It Really Possible to Forget Your Native Language?
Total forgetting of a native language is very unusual and generally only happens when life changes greatly, with early adoption, or with brain damage. Partial native language attrition, however, is quite common and happens in degrees.
One of the most studied examples of total loss involves children adopted from other countries. For example, children adopted from Russia or China into English-speaking homes before age three often lose all ability to express themselves in their native language within a year or two. Importantly, researchers have seen that even though these children might completely lose the ability to speak or understand their L1, brain reactions to native-language sounds can still be seen—showing that the brain did know that language at one time.
Immigrants are another important group that goes through attrition. Adults who move to a new country and become part of a different culture often speak their new language more than their native tongue. Over many years, even if they still understand L1 when they hear it, they may find it hard to speak fluently or say complex things. This does not mean the native language is gone—it just means it has become less easy to reach.
Language attrition is better thought of as a filtering of how well you speak. It is like having a library full of books (your vocabulary and grammar), but dimming lights (less neural activity) make it harder to find what you need.
The Neuroscience Behind Language Memory
Language storage in the brain is complex. It is not kept in one area, but instead spread across several brain parts
- Broca’s Area: Controls speech and how words are formed
- Wernicke’s Area: Deals with understanding language
- The Angular Gyrus and Supramarginal Gyrus: Help in joining language with what we sense
It is important to note that there is a difference between two memory systems
- Declarative Memory: Handles facts, vocabulary, and the content of speech
- Procedural Memory: Handles grammar, sentence structures, and patterns of pronunciation
When you stop actively using your native language, the declarative knowledge (like word meanings) tends to fade more slowly when compared to procedural patterns (like sentence structure or correct pronunciation). This is why understanding when someone speaks may remain while speaking becomes hard.
Functional MRI scans have shown that inactive language circuits can become active again after enough contact. So while it might seem like you have forgotten your native language, your brain is just using different routes based on current use. Reactivation is possible, because the brain can rewire connections based on experience and repeated use.
Bilingualism and the Brain: Competitive or Cooperative?
Someone might think that learning another language would simply make the brain richer. While that is mostly true, how multiple languages work together is not always smooth. In bilingual people, the brain is always switching between languages
- Language Suppression: To use one language, the brain must stop the other one from being used. This stopping, over time, can cause the native language to be used less.
- Language Interference: Parts from one language can ‘slip’ into the other—like mixing grammar rules or using the wrong word order.
However, these daily mental switches have good sides for thinking skills. A well-known study by Luk et al. (2011) found that people who spoke two languages from early in life kept better white matter working as they got older, which is a sign of healthy brain aging. White matter helps communication between different brain areas, and how well it works is linked to better executive function, memory, and focus.
So while using a second language more than your native language might add to attrition, it is also giving your brain strong thinking advantages.
Environmental Factors That Influence Language Attrition
Using a language every day keeps it active. When it is no longer part of daily life—at work, home, or with friends—the brain gives less attention to those neural pathways.
Important environmental things that cause attrition are
- Being surrounded by a Second Language Culture: When all school, social, and work communication becomes L2, native language use may get smaller.
- Digital Surroundings: If what you watch, read, and listen to—news, books, entertainment—is mainly in L2, contact with L1 goes down more.
- Social Separation from Native Speakers: The fewer times you talk with other native speakers, the less your brain is pushed to keep L1 active.
Time and not using it are strong forces. Even fluent speakers can start to ‘forget’ basic words and feel unsure when speaking their native tongue if they have not used it often for years.
The Role of Age: Children vs. Adults
Age greatly changes how languages are kept and lost. Children’s brains are more able to change, which lets them learn new sounds, grammar, and vocabulary fast. However, this same ability to change can work against them when L1 use is stopped early in life.
According to Montrul (2008), children who move or are adopted into a new language place often have incomplete learning of their native language. Their first language rules never become fully solid, making them more likely to completely lose it.
On the other hand, adults tend to hold on to their first language more strongly. Their brain pathways are more set, making total loss unlikely. However, adults who move to a new language place can still have attrition signs like
- Trouble getting to complex words
- Loss of common sayings
- Pausing when stressed or during emotional talks
Even educated people who were once fluent native speakers may find themselves mentally translating from L2 to L1 just to speak in their own first language after years of being somewhere else.
Passive vs. Active Language Retention
Attrition rarely affects all parts of language the same way. Often, people keep the ability to understand their native language longer than they can speak or write it. This is because of the difference between recognition (passive memory) and recall (active memory).
- Passive Skills: Listening and reading
- Active Skills: Speaking and writing
Recognition memory is stronger and lasts longer. It uses matching new information with what is already known, which is easier than making information from nothing. This explains why someone might understand and agree when watching a movie in their native language but stop and hesitate when trying to say the same things themselves.
Keeping and practicing expressive skills is very important. Without speaking or writing, the ability to make correct sentences and find the right words gets worse much faster.
Cultural and Emotional Factors
Language carries more than just meanings—it holds your cultural identity, emotional feelings, and life story. Forgetting your native language often brings not only problems with communication but a deep feeling of being separate or loss.
Emotion-based actions that add to attrition include
- Feeling ashamed or embarrassed about cultural background
- Cultural pain or being forced to fit in, especially among native or colonized groups
- Social pressure to fit in with the main language and culture
These emotional feelings can cause avoidance, where people without thinking or on purpose stop using their native language, making attrition happen faster. In these situations, language loss is both about the brain and the mind.
Can You Re-Learn a Forgotten Native Language?
Yes—and often more quickly than you might think.
According to DeKeyser (2010), early language contact leaves a “strong brain trace” in the brain. Even if you have not used your native tongue in years, your brain is ready for reactivation. Relearning is usually easier than learning a new language from the start because of that base trace.
Good ways to reactivate your native language include
- Talking practice with native speakers
- Going back to cultural habits and media
- Formal language classes that focus on speaking and writing, not just understanding
- Writing letters, keeping a journal, or telling stories in L1
Like muscle memory for physical actions, verbal muscle memory can be reawakened by consistent, emotionally involved repetition.
Language Attrition in Immigrant and Multicultural Populations
Language attrition is a common experience among immigrant families and groups living away from their home culture. In children of immigrants, it is common to find people who understand their parents’ native tongue perfectly but cannot speak it fluently in return.
This can cause
- Broken communication between generations
- Problems with cultural identity
- Feelings of guilt or not belonging fully
Some families try to keep the native language alive through weekend schools or teaching at home, but how well this works differs. The pressure from school systems, friends, and main culture often is stronger than these efforts. Still, for many in multicultural groups, getting back that lost language as adults becomes a powerful action of taking back their identity.
Practical Implications for Mental Health and Therapy
Therapy settings depend a lot on detailed, emotionally important communication. Language attrition can become a problem in situations such as
- Immigrants unable to deal with trauma in their native language
- Bilingual patients finding it hard to choose the “right” language for therapy
- Misunderstanding or emotional separation when speaking in a non-native language
Mental health experts are more and more supporting care that is aware of culture, including giving clients the choice to communicate in whatever language feels most real to them. Providing therapy in two languages or using interpreters when needed can help create better therapy connection and healing.
Is Language Loss Always a Bad Thing?
While native language attrition can bring sadness and longing, it is not always negative. For some, separating from their original language is a planned way to survive—especially in places that are unfriendly or unfair.
In addition, being fluent in a second language can open doors to joining in, getting work, and social chances. Some even find that saying emotions, problems, or past trauma becomes easier in a language that feels emotionally “neutral” or away from childhood memories.
Also, attrition of one language does not mean thinking skills get worse. In fact, many bilingual people gain mental flexibility, better attention control, and improved problem-solving—qualities linked to better results throughout life.
How to Maintain Your Native Language as a Bilingual
To keep your native language active, think about active use and emotional connection. Here are useful, science-backed ways
- Talk often with L1 speakers—friends, family, or online groups
- Read books or articles that challenge and grow your vocabulary
- Listen to podcasts, watch movies, or listen to music in your native language
- Write down your thoughts or make up stories in L1 to improve speaking and writing skills
- Practice switching between languages on purpose to keep both languages active
- Go back to your native-language-speaking area if you can, even for a short time
How often, where, and how emotionally important it is are key. Using L1 for tasks that have emotional weight or personal meaning makes language keeping stronger.
A Resilient Brain That Never Fully Forgets
Native language attrition is not permanent or sure to happen. The brain is much more able to change and recover than we realize. Most of the time, your first language is not lost—it is just sleeping. With planned effort, cultural reconnection, and regular practice, it can be reawakened.
Whether you speak two languages or five, what is most important is using language as a way to make meaning, keep memories, and show identity. Understanding bilingualism and attrition helps us get better at not just talking, but reconnecting with all the parts of ourselves.
Citations
- DeKeyser, R. (2010). Practice in a Second Language: Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology. Cambridge University Press.
- Luk, G., Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Grady, C. (2011). Lifelong bilingualism maintains white matter integrity in older adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(46), 16808–16813. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4563-11.2011
- Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Köpke, B., & Schmid, M. S. (2004). Language attrition: The next phase. In M. S. Schmid, B. Köpke, M. Keijzer, & L. Weilemar (Eds.), First Language Attrition: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Methodological Issues (pp. 1–44). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
