|
 |
What is bilingual to you? | ||
Tags: Multilingual | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 9 of 63 04 November 2013 at 12:42pm | IP Logged |
|
Might just be her exaggerating - I probably would've done the same at her age. Fact
remains I don't distinguish between whether something is in English or Dutch and I never will anymore, to me anything using either is 100% guaranteed to be understood. Anything else - your mileage may vary. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5558 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 10 of 63 04 November 2013 at 1:19pm | IP Logged |
|
So if the Spanish, Latin Americans, and French are using "bilingual" to indiate any level
of competence, how do they describe people with native capability in more than one language? Edited by schoenewaelder on 04 November 2013 at 1:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4142 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 11 of 63 04 November 2013 at 1:45pm | IP Logged |
|
For me, bilingual means equally strong skills in two languages. They don't have to both be native. But you do have
to be able to function fully (and equally) in both. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5530 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 63 04 November 2013 at 2:00pm | IP Logged |
|
At least in my part of the US, somebody might be called "bilingual" if they speak their native language and sufficiently good English that it's never an issue. I mean, if they've spoken English every day for over a decade, in all sorts of circumstances, whether they have an accent or they have the "correct" responses under an MRI is a bit of a moot point. I mean, they're standing in front of you and they speak English perfectly well.
But in Montreal, at least as far as I can tell, "bilingue" means something more like, "I talked to them for 5 minutes in both languages, and I still can't tell which is their 'native' language." This makes perfect sense, because so many people there are so good at their second languages, but they still need a word for people who genuinely don't care which language they use. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5428 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 13 of 63 04 November 2013 at 2:16pm | IP Logged |
|
As flattering as @emk's description of bilingualism in Montreal, I would like to nuance it a bit. While many people,
especially the youhg generation of native English-speakers may be able to switch easily from one language to the other, not everybody can sustain complex conversations in both languages. And the real problem is writing. That is where real bilingualism is still quite rare. In French we often use the description "parfaitement bilingue" to speak of someone who is equally at home in both languages. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6595 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 14 of 63 04 November 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged |
|
I stick to the standards of this forum and consider someone bilingual if they have two native languages. Native fluency is a different concept, and so is thinking in the language of the country you live in (to me it doesn't mean that your native language "changed" unless you actually forgot it). Although in general I believe the speaker knows best what counts as a native language and what doesn't. Edited by Serpent on 04 November 2013 at 2:39pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4663 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 15 of 63 04 November 2013 at 5:28pm | IP Logged |
|
The Oxford English Dictionary says for bilingual: As n., one who can speak two
languages. There's no hint that either of those languages need to be of "native" or "near native" level (although it would be most odd if at least one of them were not!). It's going to be very difficult to find someone who speaks two languages to the same level even if they are "native" in both. I read and speak Italian with no trouble at all but I do so only a fraction of the time that I do the same in English. My Italian must be quite a bit weaker. That doesn't stop me understanding Rai Uno with as little effort as I understand BBC 1. So I don't feel any sort of twinge of shame when I tick the bilingual box anywhere. Eventually I'll get around to dusting off my French. Once I get to the point that I feel I can communicate reasonably well in (say) an office environment, then I'll be trilingual (without a twinge). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 16 of 63 04 November 2013 at 5:52pm | IP Logged |
|
Is someone still a native speaker if they spoke the language since birth with their family, but only with a very limited vocab? They can speak fluently with family, but couldn't understand movies or tv series from any country in which the language is spoken, not literate, & have problems communicating with others? Edited by sillygoose1 on 04 November 2013 at 5:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
