5 ms·
Does English count as "foreign"? In any case, I speak two languages natively, one of which is English.
by webmaven 5y ago
Does English count as "foreign"?
In any case, I speak two languages natively, one of which is English.
- klyrs 5y agoForeign is relative. I'd count any language that isn't an official language of your country of birth or residence.
- Cpoll 5y agoI suspect that most multilingual Americans are immigrants or a child of immigrants. By your definition, they would not be considered to speak a foreign language. I for one don't know the intent of the question. Is there a reason the poster phrased it as "foreign languages" instead of "multilingual," or is that a language difference?
- klyrs 5y agoI said birth or residence. A precise reading would determine that an immigrant speaks two foreign languages: one foreign to their birth country and one foreign to their country of residence. My definition is not authoritative, of course, merely exemplary.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ALittleLight 5y agoSo, a Canadian who knows French and English, both of which are official languages of Canada, can speak zero foreign languages?
- klyrs 5y agoI'd say so, yes. I know American Sign Language and don't consider that to be foreign either. Perhaps 'official' isn't the right cut: indigenous languages aren't official in Canada nor the US and I certainly wouldn't call those foreign either (unless somebody lives in Portugal and speaks Lakota, of course. From a different perspective, English and French are both foreign languages, brought to the land by colonizers.