What do people actually mean when they say they can't speak?

I've heard this way too many times: ,,I can write, I understand but I can't speak'' and I'm curious; what does that actually mean? Does that mean that you just don't know how to pronounce words or you are completely incapable of thinking in the language on the spot? And doesn't that basically mean you're not fluent, or should I say, you are half-fluent? For me sometimes, it seems like all the vocabulary just vanishes from my head, but when I'm talking to myself (and I do that a lot), I'm having full-blown sophisticated conversations. What does this mean to you, guys?

I honestly think this does have some connection to how fluent you are and progressed, because we both can think in the language, but someone who is completely immersed like me, there's like not really a part where I'm lacking. In speaking, maybe sometimes. But this is obviously not to say you don't know the language if you can't speak. It just means your brain is still not that completely hard-wired into the other language sometimes

submitted by /u/kamoidk
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