My spoken English is not very good; my vocabulary is weak too.
Sometimes when I am talking to some foreigners, I have to think for a while to find the word I want in my mind but this always makes the conversations swap between "on" and "off".
By this I mean that the conversations are suddenly stopped because I have to look for a suitable word or phrase. Usually it's a minute or two before we can continue the conversation.
Is there a word that can fully describe the "on" and "off" state I experience in these situations?
Best Answer
are all phrases that describe stopping to think about something, which is what you are doing when you think about a suitable word or translation.
would be an adjective to describe the stop/start of a conversation, which can be used even if natives are speaking with each other.