Is English your native/first language?

[dk168]

Just being curious, that's all.

I was born in Hong Kong and lived there until I came to UK to continue with my school in my mid teens, liked it here so much I decided to call it my home.

My first/native language is Cantonese, and I only speak it with my mum once every 2 to 3 months or so.

I can just about read the menus in Chinese (not the simplified version)!

I struggled with getting an English qualification when I was at school and failed every single English related exam that I took.

However, eventually, I managed to achieved a good enough grade in an exam that required for 3 essays to be written on general subjects in 2 hours. This was good enough for me to go to university, phew!

Many years later, I needed to do an exam at the end of a 5-day vocational training course, and the tutor informed the class that 30 extra minutes would be granted to those whose first/native language was not English (apart from me, there was an Eastern European lady in the class). I cheekily put my hand up, and got told off for trying, citing I had been in UK long enough with no sign of being disadvantaged in anyway.

When I went to school in UK in the late 70s, during the first lesson with my English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher, she informed me that in order to climb up the socioeconomic ladder and be a respected member of society, I would need to drop my accent and speak like I was announcing the news on BBC! And yes, I did work hard to drop my accent. Those were the teachings of the day.

I was very chuffed when I went on a holiday in Europe during the summer holidays 2 years later, to be recognised as being British/English due to my accent that I worked hard to achieve.

Friends and colleagues would notice a significant change in my accent whenever I came back after spending some time with my family in Canada, spending most of the time conversing in Cantonese with them, speaking in short syllables rather than round tones (ref: the elocution lessons in the film Singing In The Rain).

I have never felt being disadvantaged in anyway by not having English as my first/native language for all the years I have been in UK (over 40 years). I do make an effort in trying to make sure my spelling and grammar are correct - not doing so would look sloppy in my line of work and show me up as lacking attention in details.

Thanks for reading.

DK

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

I really like English. Always have liked it. My native language is German. English was my second foreign language in school (first was Latin) and now I'm living in France speaking French for most everyday activities, German with my children and English on PS. It's ok for me to switch from German to French and German to English, but when I have to switch a lot between English and French during a conversation I get MUCH slower in both languages...

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

DK you are very clever


English is my first and only language but some days you wouldn't think so
At my high school i took history and geography rather than language

 

[dk168]

DK you are very clever


English is my first and only language but some days you wouldn't think so
At my high school i took history and geography rather than language

Thank you! Not clever, smart/streetwise more like! I am not deep and know zilch about quantum physics as my snooty brainy sister would opine.

I learnt some French too as I was gunning for a job in Belgium/France in the early 00s. I can still read the menus, no surprise there!

DK

 

[Karl_K]

i spek stormish my own personal American language

 

[Lookinagain]

I really like English. Always have liked it. My native language is German. English was my second foreign language in school (first was Latin) and now I'm living in France speaking French for most everyday activities, German with my children and English on PS. It's ok for me to switch from German to French and German to English, but when I have to switch a lot between English and French during a conversation I get MUCH slower in both languages...

I've very jealous of you folks who are multi lingual. English is my native language, but growing up in Florida I had to take Spanish in elementary school. In high school and one year in college I took French. During Covid I've tried studying Italian. I can say that I stink at languages. I only remember a tiny bit of Spanish, maybe a little more French b/c I've spent a fair amount of time in France and trying to learn Italian now just tells me I have no facility at all for it. It's depressing. I always say it's because I'm tone deaf but that really only impacts my pronunciation which is even worse than my vocabulary over all. I'm just a language loser.

 

[Austina]

English is my first language, that’s why you might see me spell things the English way here, rather than American English

I did study French and German at school and college, but that was a million years ago, and I don’t claim that I could remember anything these days. I can’t believe I could actually take shorthand in French back in the day, I’d be hard pushed to remember it in English now!

Kudos to all those members here who post so eloquently in a ‘foreign’ language.

 

[chrono]

Trust me, learning multiple languages for me was not by choice so no jealously please!

 

[tyty333]

I'm another one of those jealous of you multi-language speakers (except @chrono . I wonder why my mind
just says "nope" to speaking a foreign language? I think it's trying to tell me that I need to learn English better first!

 

[jaysonsmom]

Trust me, learning multiple languages for me was not by choice so no jealously please!

I learned multiple languages out of necessity, my family moved constantly due to my dad’s diplomatic career and I used to resent it, but I now consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to be exposed to many languages as a young age, it makes learning new languages easier for me than most.

Chinese was my first language (Cantonese nanny, Taiwanese/Japanese Parents, Mandarin at preschool). But I moved to US at 5 and English became my first language and the one I’m most fluent in. I can speak , read and write in Chinese, but definitely getting rustier due to living in US.

Throughout my childhood, I also lived in South Africa (Afrikaans), Germany (German) so know enough to get around and understand what people are saying, but not enough to engage in a full conversation. I also took French in middle school, which laid the foundation for Spanish which I use at work everyday to this day. I head up regulatory for Latin America, Asia Pacific and Eurasia, so get to apply and use my language skills daily. So, in short, I consider Chinese my native language but English my first language.

 

[danusia]

Polish, Ukrainian, and German with a lot of English thrown in! My mom spoke 6 languages and to speak with relatives I had to use at least one of the 3. So as a child I was very confused and used all 3 at once to communicate it seems. The languages also came in very handy since my neighborhood was very diverse growing up in the 1960s and I think I learned some Italian and Spanish as well. My next door neighbors were Polish and their kids only spoke Polish. Our landlord was Ukrainian. My best friend was German and her mother only spoke German.

 

[DutchJackie]

Native language is Dutch. In school I also learned German, French and English. I love English literature so that is the only foreign language I kept using. German and French are now on a tourist level

 

[Mreader]

Trust me, learning multiple languages for me was not by choice so no jealously please!

What do you mean? Which languages do you speak? I'm curious!

 

[Mreader]

I love reading about these multi-lingual backgrounds and I am envious! I speak/teach French and Italian but I started as a teenager and learned in school and abroad - definitely not the same as growing up bilingual. I also have gotten rusty since I haven't been able to go back to Europe bc of Covid. Fingers crossed we are going back this summer. I remember when living in France I was able to speak without even "thinking" about it and now it's tougher - it is true that you lose it if you don't use it. It is sad that many schools and universities are dropping language requirements and programs. I think it's so important and teaches you about other cultures as well.