Native-speaker/native language

 I have two nieces who are equally fluent in English and German. It is possible.

I think it is necessary to distinguish between fluency in a language and the ability to use it over a range of situations that the average native speaker of a language uses it in a community that uses that language.

If you are born into a Spanish speaking family living in Sweden you will speak Spanish fluently in the sense that you will not have to think about what you are saying, will not make any mistakes and will be able to say anything you need to say in Spanish in Sweden. But if you make your first trip to Spain when you are fifteen, you may be in for a culture shock. You may be able to ask for the bread to be passed, but will have a bit of difficulty keeping up with your peers. Your way of speaking may come across as a bit quaint since it will be fixed at the date your parents left Spain. A Spanish comic may be a closed book. Any person's language is part of his experience and your experience will not include dealing with people your own age living in a community of Spanish speakers. The odd thing is that you will be regarded as a fluent Spanish speaker, but a non-native speaker with the same command of language in the same situation will not, even if he can discuss the economic situation in the most elegant of terms.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. That supports my thoughts that there must be very few people who are truly 100% bilingual, according to my definition of 100% bilingual. One hundred percent bilinguals have two fist languages, used like they are first languages. If you are 100% bilingual in English and Spanish, you should read, write, listen and speak with the same proficiency in both English and Spanish, and that should be the average proficiency of a native speaker of your age, both in English and in Spanish. You read a book in English the same way a native would (because you actually have English native proficiency), and you read the same kind of book in Spanish the same way a native would (because you actually have native Spanish proficiency). The same applies to TV, radio, interpersonal communication skills, etc.

That's what I was talking about. Do you know any of those 100% bilinguals? What do you think of that?
My opinion is that they exist, but they are relatively rare. That's probably possible for more languages too... very rare though.

Clive, are there not people in Canada who are truly bilingual in English and French?

Well, I wasn't thinking about the 'help' and 'au secours' thing - but I really like Forbes's thing - would he get the jokes, does he know the slang, etc.

It would be interesting to talk to truly fluent people about the languages they dream in and whether it varies by what the dream is about. If they dream of cooking, is it gateaux? But of traveling, airplanes?