Who here is a native English speaker?

[Eric Cantona]

Curious about that, as the forum is such a wide community, it'd be interesting to know.

To answer my own question, I'm not. My native language is Sámi (also Norwegian to a degree).

[Eric Cantona]

If it's of any interest, I'd say I (and probably others with different native languages) pick up a lot of words, sayings, even accents from everywhere, even this forum. I can find myself talking to a guy from Ireland, and I'll adopt some of their accents or sayings, and if I'm talking to an American, I'll talk like a gringo.

It's kind of hard to explain it, but I'm like a linguistic chameleon, I guess

[soon]

I know what you mean about the chameleon part!

I am a native english speaker. I grew up around a German dialect but didnt retain it. I have a hint of the way they spoke english and also a rural drawl left in my Ontario accent. In writing my word choices tend to be more formal, therefore more UK then US by comparison. And I do notice myself picking up some UK turns of phrase sometimes. Im very informal in conversation though. When I go to eastern Canada I sometimes seem to take on some phrases with out realizing it. I think some of that sticks with me.

Where I grew up, it would be said that I had a bit of conversational french.  But where I live now, it would be said that I have no french.

[BlueJean Baby]

Me, born in Macon, Georgia, raised in Atlanta. 😆  I guess even after living in other parts of the US for 30 years, my southern drawl has returned after moving back here 2 years ago. 😏  

[Graeme]

Guilty as charged.

[AtariLegend]

35 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Guilty as charged.

You sure that's English mate?

[Graeme]

That's fucking rich coming from someone from Ulster  .

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, Graeme said:

Guilty as charged.

You don't consider Scots its own language? 

[Sosso]

English is not my native language, but I love to speak it. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by Sosso

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

Born in Brooklyn NYC. We have our own brand of English. lol

Love it when people of other countries learn English. I honestly think some of them speak English better than we Americans.

 

[EvanG]

1 hour ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

Love it when people of other countries learn English. I honestly think some of them speak English better than we Americans.

I've noticed that too, especially with grammar. I think that is because if English isn't your first language, you're more aware of making mistakes and you're trying to speak it as perfect as possible.

My first language is a local dialect, I didn't start speaking Dutch, which is officially my first language, until I went to school and had to start speaking Dutch.

[Gibson87]

I speak a hybrid of English and swear words. 

[alfierose]

I'm an English, English speaker so guilty on both counts.

I'm always amazed what a good standard of English non native speakers on here have. Makes me a bit ashamed that the best I can muster is a smattering of schoolgirl, conversational French. 

[BlueJean Baby]

Living in Tucson for six years, I picked up some words of Spanish from the Mexican population there and know a few words of Danish from dating a guy from Denmark several years ago. But again, foreign languages do not sound right with a southern drawl...😣

[Graeme]

6 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

You don't consider Scots its own language? 

I do, absolutely, but my 'native tongue' as it were is what linguists call "Scottish Standard English". Basically an invented language whereby the Scottish middle and upper classes in the 19th Century stopped speaking pure Scots and attempted to imitate the language of the South of England (Imagine if socially influential Norwegians decided that their language was just bad Danish and then insisted that everyone change, but they're the ones in charge of the school curriculum). 

My grandparents' generation (and indeed my great grandparents) were all working class and spoke a lot more Scots, they knew more of the distinct vocabulary and they used it all the time at home, but they had their 'telephone voices', I think some of them even had elocution lessons. This was typically called "talking properly" and it was something they tried to pass on to their children, too, who then passed it on to theirs. So, I was raised to "talk properly". 

It's a documented phenomenon though that many Scots talk on a "linguistic continuum" that typically exists somewhere between Standard English and Pure Scots, and that they can "code switch" depending on the social situation. In more informal situations, my parents would be more likely to talk like their parents, humour especially tends to be delivered in Scots so I picked up some of the words that they would say like that, likewise through talking to my great aunts and uncles, which gave me a bit of a basis in Scots, though I would always be corrected for using them in other situations. It's weird, sometimes with my parents I can get away with using Scots without getting pulled up and told to "talk properly", but I kinda have to make it look like an accident, like it's something I've blurted out without deliberating. My parents sometimes use it as well, because they were brought up in households where it was commonplace, but they're kind of ashamed of it.

At school, ironically, was where I learned to speak the most Scots, as it's the language of the playground. Speaking Standard English there makes you seem like a posh arsehole, so you quickly learn to adapt. Even then, it's not old literary Scots, it's probably fairly heavily influenced by English as well, but it's likely pretty difficult to understand for a non-Scot. We also, for a few weeks a year, had the "talk properly" playbook torn up when we'd learn Scots poetry, and it was weird to watch the kids who grew up in households where more Scots was used (who typically struggled more in English lessons) really come into their own in those classes.

My relationship with Scots is complicated, I love it to listen to and to use, and sometimes it feels very natural, which I think is because it suits the accent so well, but sometimes I have a bit of an inferiority complex about it, as a gut reaction rather than a conscious thought process. I feel like, logically speaking, there's no way on earth it's "inferior" to English, that we should nurture and encourage it, embrace its richness, its gifts for communicating poetry and especially humour... But if I were to try speaking it all the time in my own home the way I did with my friends growing up, I know it would just sound like I was putting on a performance and I would stop myself (but in my head I'd be thinking "Whit're ye daein' ya fanny?" which is about as Scots as you get).

Such is the mindset of a culturally colonised nation.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Graeme

[janrichmond]

I'm English and i'd love an accent that don't sound like mine. I'd like a posh accent but the truth is i can't be arsed. Talking 'proper English' is hard, you have to pronounce all the Ts and stuff. 

[SoulMonster]

2 minutes ago, janrichmond said:

I'm English and i'd love an accent that don't sound like mine. I'd like a posh accent but the truth is i can't be arsed. Talking 'proper English' is hard, you have to pronounce all the Ts and stuff. 

Well, at least you don't lisp. 

[janrichmond]

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Well, at least you don't lisp. 

You made me lol 

Poor Len 

[marlingrl03]

2 hours ago, Gibson_Guy87 said:

I speak a hybrid of English and swear words. 

 Get the fuck out! You speak my same language! 

[killuridols]

I thought most people here are native English speakers

[Gibson87]

1 hour ago, marlingrl03 said:

 Get the fuck out! You speak my same language! 

No fuckin shit? That's great!

[action]

flemish, which is a dutch dialect that's hard to understand even by the dutch themselves. Hell, even in flanders (a region of a mere 13.522 km²) you have regions with hugely different dialects. There is east-flanders and west-flanders and both have a hard time understanding each other. then, within both almost every city have their own dialect.

I learned english through video games, guns n roses lyrics and action movies, which probably explains why I'm sounding like a 90s street kid.

Edited June 6, 2018 by action

[willl]

22 hours ago, AtariLegend said:

You sure that's English mate?

I've obviously lived in Scotland far too long as I understood every word

^ Another great one

I was born in England so a native speaker. Don't plan on ever moving back down there as I love life up here.

 

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

23 hours ago, EvanG said:

I've noticed that too, especially with grammar. I think that is because if English isn't your first language, you're more aware of making mistakes and you're trying to speak it as perfect as possible.

My first language is a local dialect, I didn't start speaking Dutch, which is officially my first language, until I went to school and had to start speaking Dutch.

My grandmother only spoke Sicilian before she started school. She had to learn English once she was in school. Back in the 40's there wasn't any English as a second language classes, so any kids who spoke another language had to just pick it up along the way.

Yeah, I agree most people who learn English learn it correctly. Sometimes I think we Americans can just ruin the English language. Living in Dallas now, if you meet some people who were born in the rural parts, they can mess up the grammar so badly. lol Eventually, you understand them anyway. lol

I learned Spanish in High school, but honestly don't remember it at all. Sadly.

19 hours ago, marlingrl03 said:

 Get the fuck out! You speak my same language! 

I think when you learn another language, swear words are a given! lol

I know some Italian and Spanish curse words. Comes in handy.

[EvanG]

12 hours ago, action said:

flemish, which is a dutch dialect that's hard to understand even by the dutch themselves. Hell, even in flanders (a region of a mere 13.522 km²) you have regions with hugely different dialects. There is east-flanders and west-flanders and both have a hard time understanding each other. then, within both almost every city have their own dialect.

I find it fascinating that in such small countries you will find so many different dialects and accents. Here you will hear a different accent and/or dialect every ten minutes. There are people 3 km away from me that pronounce certain words completely different.