Native-speaker/native language

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shaved  #508294  Thu, 01 May 08 11:47 PM

Linguistic anthropologists categorize bilingualism into a number of categories, and 'true bilinguals' are extremely rare.

 I remember being in college studying linguistic anthropology and having a roommate who was unable to speak, read, or write beyond an elementary school level in FOUR languages, but could talk fluently in any of them. 

Korean

Japanese

English

Italian

 

The guy's father was in the US Navy, so the guy was born in Korea and then moved all over the world throughout his childhood. Obviously his parents didn't seem to think it was so bad for him, but they were wrong.

By the time he started college, he was basically hopeless in terms of reading comprehension, writing, and even conversation skills.  I think he flunked out.

  
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Cool Breeze  #509902  Mon, 05 May 08 04:18 PM
Pucca
 I don't think you can be 100% bilingual.

 

Hi Pucca

I think it's possible. Actually, I think it's an inevitable result if you live in Finland, have a Finnish-speaking mother, a Swedish-speaking father, go to both Finnish and Swedish schools, listen to radio and TV and read newspapers, magazines and books in both languages.

Cheers

CB 

  
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