Was english your first language?

If it wasn't, feel free to say what *was* your first one if you'd like.

Yes it was 37
No it wasn't 15
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Comments ( 25 )
  • LloydAsher

    English.

    Took a test about my ability to learn foreign languages. At the end they were surprised that I managed to learn English in the first place.

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    • Grunewald

      Aww...

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  • megadriver

    It was the first foreign language I learned.

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    • Softlips123

      What’s your native language?

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      • megadriver

        Bulgarian. Sorry for late reply.

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  • DADNSCAL

    I grew up speaking Italian until I got to kindergarten.

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  • normal-rebellious

    English was my first language, I'm about to learn Romanian so someday I can go to Moldova.

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  • LornaMae

    Yes and no. I grew up in the US in a Portuguese speaking household.

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    • Grunewald

      Awesome! You know, neurolinguists practically salivate over bilinguals... Speak too loudly about being bilingual around a neuroscience department and someone might sign you up as an experimental subject. You might even earn a few bucks in the process!

      (By the way, I'm joking. I still think being bilingual would be cool, though.)

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      • LornaMae

        Hahahaha, I find bilingualism super interesting. Because of my personal experience that's one of the things I've argued for the most in the schools I worked at - EFL schools here. They'd usually only have programs starting at ages 8 or 9 - supposedly due to alphabetization process in the mother tongue possibly confusing kids heads. I argue that the younger the language learner is the better the results.

        Also, there is absolutely no need to teach them written English, just the spoken language for the very young learners is enough. They pick up the phonemes way faster than adults and learn the same way we all learn a first language, by being exposed to it in the first place.

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  • Tommythecaty

    Si.

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  • wigz

    Да

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  • idolomantis

    Yep, it was always one of my favorite classes too. Probably the main thing that I excel at honestly.

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  • PurpleHoneycomb

    Yes, but I have since learned French. I can read and write it fluently and was able to speak it well enough to live there for a few months.

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    • wigz

      Est-que çé?

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    • Grunewald

      Hey, snap!

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  • KholatKhult

    Nah. Also failed every single English class I took in school

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    • Grunewald

      Well you wouldn't fail them if you were taking them again now! Your writing and cultural knowledge are pretty impressive at times. Have you had training in these subjects more recently?

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  • GuvnorsOtherWoman

    I have 2 first languages, Irish and English, but mainly speak English.

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    • Grunewald

      Ooooh an Irish speaker!! I take it you're from Republic but might be wrong. Are there a lot of Irish speakers still? And are things okay where you are at the moment?

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      • GuvnorsOtherWoman

        Yes, from Mullingar in Westmeath. As far as I know, all is fine (moved to Britain at the age of 8). Irish is very much a minority language although lessons in it are compulsory in schools and it also has status as a language of the United Nations. Ghrá go deo, a chara!

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  • No but I learned it quickly and easily because i've always preferred english and was interested in learning it from when I was a small kid. I always wanted to understand the songs on the radio and what they said in the american/english tv shows and movies on tv.
    English is a very simple language too.

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    • Grunewald

      Simple if you're content to trip over all the irregular forms, phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases, infinitives and verb-ING forms, yes. Word order, articles and perfect and continuous tenses give a lot of people a headache, too.

      You seem to have an excellent grasp of complex structures and trickier aspects of grammar though, so I guess I'd better not underestimate you personally.

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      • LornaMae

        Yeah, perfect tenses are a bitch to teach to Portuguese speakers. "If it's a past action why is it called present??" Hehe. The translation is exactly the same for simple past and present perfect. No wonder it's hard to understand.

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  • Somenormie

    Yes, I grew up speaking English but I want to learn the most difficult languages someday.

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