When You Don’t Know the Word: Don’t Stop — Explain It!

You know the word in your own language, but suddenly you can’t remember it in English. What do you do? Stop speaking? Say “I don’t know” and give up?

Not at all. You can explain the word.

This is a very useful skill, especially in conversations, meetings and situations where you need to keep speaking.

You can say:

• It’s something you use to…
• It’s a person who…
• It’s a place where…
• It’s something you…
• It’s similar to…
• It’s the opposite of…
• It’s like a…
• I don’t know the exact word, but…

For example, you want to say “ladder”, but you can't remember the word.

“I don’t know the exact word, but it’s something you use to climb up and reach high places.”

Or you want to say “neighbour”:

“It’s a person who lives near you.”

You don't need perfect vocabulary to communicate successfully. Sometimes, the ability to explain a word is more useful than knowing every word.

And there is another advantage: when you explain something, the other person can often help you find the word:

“It’s something you use to open a bottle…”

“A bottle opener?”

“Yes! That’s it!”

So next time a word disappears from your mind, don’t stop the conversation. Go around the word!