system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is it so much easier to read something in a different language and understand it than to speak it?

I’m learning Italian right now and I’ve noticed that it’s much easier to read a sentence and comprehend it than for me to translate the same sentence from English into Italian myself. Does anyone else agree with this and does anyone know why?
gpt
It's a lot easier to recognize words and puzzle piece the sentence together than to generate all of the translation accurately from your mind.  Other things in the sentence are provided for you - syntax, grammar, etc where you would have to add them in on your own when translating on your own.