Your Parents & English (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Your Parents & English
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

54 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

Stelle
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
tobefluent.com
Joined 4148 days ago
949 posts - 1686 votes

Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish
Studies: Tagalog

Message 33 of 54

11 March 2014 at 8:18pm | IP Logged

FashionPolyglot wrote:

Gemuse wrote:

Lets be concrete. How bad are we talking about?

My parents English is B2 level. Seems good at a Linguistic sense, but in a real life conversational setting, it
doesn't
feel "fluent" enough to the native speaker.

B2 is a perfectly adequate level. My in-laws are probably at a B1/B2 level, and I have absolutely no problem
talking to them about anything. They are perfectly capable of doing anything that they need to do in English -
but of course, they still speak Tagalog at home and with their children. And why not? They don't socialize a lot
outside of their family.

Do your parents work in English or in Tagalog? That makes a huge difference - if they aren't working in English,
and they don't have a lot of English-speaking friends, then it makes it hard to improve.
2 persons have voted this message useful

Luso
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Portugal
Joined 6065 days ago
819 posts - 1812 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*, French, English^C2, German^B1, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical)

Message 34 of 54

11 March 2014 at 8:56pm | IP Logged

FashionPolyglot wrote:

Luso wrote:

2. I'd never even seen that expression: how negative can you get?

2. You're wrong about my personality. I'm super nice to others around me. You shouldn't judge a person you don't know.

You're right. I don't know you. Anyway, I was just judging the attitude, not the person. I'm sure you are nice. Good luck on your language learning.
1 person has voted this message useful

Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4086 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 35 of 54

11 March 2014 at 9:48pm | IP Logged

Stelle wrote:

Do your parents work in English or in Tagalog? That makes a huge difference - if they
aren't working in English,
and they don't have a lot of English-speaking friends, then it makes it hard to improve.

And also if they are not into English literature/TV
1 person has voted this message useful

FashionPolyglot
Newbie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3947 days ago
39 posts - 73 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Portuguese

Message 36 of 54

11 March 2014 at 10:29pm | IP Logged

@Stelle

My parents work in a English speaking environment.

@Luso

Thanks

@Gemuse

My parents watch American television and read books in English.
1 person has voted this message useful

Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4086 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 37 of 54

12 March 2014 at 7:38am | IP Logged

FashionPolyglot wrote:

@Stelle

My parents work in a English speaking environment.

@Gemuse

My parents watch American television and read books in English.

Well then you should be asking what they should be doing to improve their English.
Cuz, speaking, working, watching TV, reading is usually what is recommended to get to
C1/C2. Are you sure they are only B2, and not C1?
1 person has voted this message useful

beano
Diglot
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4626 days ago
1049 posts - 2152 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian

Message 38 of 54

12 March 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged

There are plenty of native English speakers who move to other countries and don't exactly thrive in the new language. Some do, of course. Everyone has their own priorities.
3 persons have voted this message useful

FashionPolyglot
Newbie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3947 days ago
39 posts - 73 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Portuguese

Message 39 of 54

12 March 2014 at 3:29pm | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

Are you sure they are only B2, and not C1?

I'm sure my parents are B2. If I didn't have to correct them occasionally, than I would have thought C1 otherwise.
1 person has voted this message useful

Fuenf_Katzen
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
notjustajd.wordpress
Joined 4373 days ago
337 posts - 476 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans

Message 40 of 54

12 March 2014 at 3:41pm | IP Logged

C1 is definitely not at a native speaker level to the point where you don't have to correct mistakes. Plenty of members on this forum have said that they recognized they still had holes in their vocabulary and knowledge after hitting C1, and others have said they didn't feel they really were as advanced as the official description says.

But B2 or C1, it sounds as though your parents are pretty functional in the language; they're able to take care of their personal and professional needs through English. Not everybody needs or even necessarily wants to put in the time and effort to go from "extremely competent non-native" to "native-like fluency." I think maybe their English isn't quite so weak.

2 persons have voted this message useful

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