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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| slav Bilingual Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5011 days ago 43 posts - 54 votes  Speaks: Slovak, Czech*, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish | Message 1 of 14 19 May 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Okay, my overall first language is Czech. I was born in the Czech Republic and the only language that I used up until the age of 5 was Czech.
Then I moved to the US, and I learned English really quick. My skills in English, for some reason, are better than my skills in Czech. Slightly, but significantly. I even think in English. I've never met anyone else whose second language acts as their native language. I'm not saying I'm special, but I'm not really sure if this is normal. Every other bilingual(or more than 2 languages) still thinks in their native language, uses interjections from their native language(ow, eww, etc), etc. I'm just the only one I know whose secondary language completely took over. Edited by slav on 19 May 2011 at 7:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5134 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 14 19 May 2011 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
It's not unusual at all. English is your active, or dominant language, because that's what you spend the majority of your time using (and learning all sorts of other subjects in school that you wouldn't have been exposed to at home). R. == Edited by hrhenry on 19 May 2011 at 7:30pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6015 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 14 19 May 2011 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Czech is one of your native languages -- English is the other one.
Many linguists and psychologists talk of a "critical period" for language learning running from infancy to puberty -- anything learned within the critical period is considered a native language. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tbone Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4995 days ago 92 posts - 132 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 4 of 14 19 May 2011 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | ||
Welcome to the US. It happens all the time. I'll bet you've met tons of people, as we all have, who moved here at a young age and for whom English is now their native language. It's just that you can't tell without asking them. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Phantom Kat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5067 days ago 160 posts - 253 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Finnish | Message 5 of 14 20 May 2011 at 12:33am | IP Logged | ||
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You're not alone. I'm just like you. I moved from Mexico to the States when I was four, and though Spanish is my native language, English is my dominant one. I think it, even at home, and there's no doubt that my English is better than my Spanish. But that's what happened. If we had stayed in our native contries, Spanish (and Czech, in your case) would have been dominant while English would have varied, depending on the education we would have gotten. As hrhenry said, English dominates our native language because it's the language we are taught in, the language we are exposed to most of the time.
If you want to improve your Czech, immserse yourself in as many native Czech materials as you can. This summer, I plan to read as many Spanish novels as possible and write as frequently as I can in Spanish. I know my vocabulary and spelling will improve, so I'm looking forward to that. We don't have to let English dominate us forever. With our knowledge of our native languages we can improve and conquer. Count yourself lucky. I know people who have forgotten their Spanish and know only English or have never learned Spanish (despite their parents knowing it) because they would have the chance of learning English here in the United States. Most of the time it was because the parents already knew English and could help the children immserse themselves even more. I thank my lucky stars my Spanish didn't deteriote to the point where I wouldn't be able to improve to a native level. - Kat Edited by Phantom Kat on 20 May 2011 at 12:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 6 of 14 20 May 2011 at 4:31am | IP Logged | ||
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slav
I've had the same experience. I was born in the USA but my parents came here from Cuba. I spoke only Spanish at home until I went to school at age 5. We also moved where there were almost no Spanish speakers at the time. As early as I can remember I've thought in English but was fluent in Spanish. At home I spoke English peppered with Spanish words to my parents who'd address me in Spanish peppered with English words. With my grandparents, however, I spoke exclusively Spanish as they knew little English. While I remain fluent my Spanish vocabulary is a lot smaller than my English vocabulary. I don't know many business terms. Even some common items like "grill" and "vacuum-cleaner" I didn't know the Spanish equivalent until recently as we'd always used the English word for them. I've also had the feeling of needing some time to switch gears from English to Spanish when entering extended conversations in the latter. Since I began studying Italian and Portuguese, however, I don't have that problem. Instead I find both of them slipping into my Spanish. Funny! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slav Bilingual Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5011 days ago 43 posts - 54 votes Speaks: Slovak, Czech*, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish | Message 7 of 14 20 May 2011 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
Up until that point my experience is almost identical, but with a different language. x3 I always pepper my Czech with English if I don't know a word or don't know what tense or suffix to put on it. Thanks for the replies, everyone. :D 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6586 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 8 of 14 20 May 2011 at 7:00am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm close to having English as a dominant language despite being born and raised in Sweden by Swedish parents. I studied in the States for one semester. So seeing as English is your second native language, I don't see it as strange at all.
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