[General] Native Language

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freezeframe

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When you create a forum profile here, there's a required choice of Native Language from a drop-down menu. You can choose only one and you cannot qualify it.

Usually when people ask me "What is your native language?" I pause and then go with an option that seems least problematic in the situation or with whatever I feel like that day. I don't have just one native language -- my "first" language was acquired simultaneously with another. These languages were used equally around me.

And my native language is different depending on how you define what makes the language "native". Is it the first language you acquired? Is it the language that is dominant for me? Is it the language in which you have native fluency? Is it the language that defines my sociolinguistic identity (internal and external)? If I go with some of these definitions, my native language is English.

Sometimes when I think about what is "my native language" I feel a bit of cognitive dissonance, part of which is the feeling of liminality and also of loss. I'm sure this is a common migrant experience.

I'm curious if anyone else has had any similar experiences and if they'd like to share.

cheers
 

5jj

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I feel a bit of cognitive dissonance, part of which is the feeling of liminality and also of loss.
Nah, mate - you ain't a native speaker. Not if you talks like that.
 

freezeframe

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Nah, mate - you ain't a native speaker. Not if you talks like that.

Well, fivejedjon, here in Canada the word liminality is quite common and is often heard in places like supermarket checkout lines. Don't be a hater just because people in the colonies have better vocabulary.
 

5jj

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Well, fivejedjon, here in Canada the word liminality is quite common and is often heard in places like supermarket checkout lines. Don't be a hater just because people in the colonies have better vocabulary.
Look, mate - we behaves ourselves in supermarket Q's, and we don't use badder language, even if we does hafter Q for ages.
 

Hucky

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German
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When you create a forum profile here, there's a required choice of Native Language from a drop-down menu. You can choose only one and you cannot qualify it.

Usually when people ask me "What is your native language?" I pause and then go with an option that seems least problematic in the situation or with whatever I feel like that day. I don't have just one native language -- my "first" language was acquired simultaneously with another. These languages were used equally around me.

And my native language is different depending on how you define what makes the language "native". Is it the first language you acquired? Is it the language that is dominant for me? Is it the language in which you have native fluency? Is it the language that defines my sociolinguistic identity (internal and external)? If I go with some of these definitions, my native language is English.

Sometimes when I think about what is "my native language" I feel a bit of cognitive dissonance, part of which is the feeling of liminality and also of loss. I'm sure this is a common migrant experience.

I'm curious if anyone else has had any similar experiences and if they'd like to share.

cheers


I didn´t know that you had opened this thread prior to my last contribution to my thread "no staff for the has-beens", otherwise I would have dropped it here. As you ask for someone with a similar experience, I have to refer you to a lady quoted there. - I promise you striking similarities!
 

5jj

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I didn´t know that you had opened this thread prior to my last contribution to my thread "no staff for the has-beens", otherwise I would have dropped it here. As you ask for someone with a similar experience, I have to refer you to a lady quoted there. - I promise you striking similarities!
@ freezeframe:

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.
 

birdeen's call

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I think it would be a good idea to bring the problem to Red5's attention on the support forum.
 

Hucky

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I think it would be a good idea to bring the problem to Red5's attention on the support forum.


I feel there is too much crypticness here. Please, let's be nice to one another. Hucky, if there's something on your mind, why not say it openly? It would cause less tension.

Sorry if nothing like that is going on and I'm meddling unnecessarily.

Dear birdeen´s call,

Just in brief, you are not meddling, whatsoever, if you are trying to help in good intent. The object of your appeal should be a matter of course, but it is worth calling it to mind again. At the time when you wrote these lines the matter must have seemed cryptic to you. Meanwhile, you will have got the necessary background information by reading the pertinent passages, thus connecting the dots.

Hucky
 

birdeen's call

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Please note that I never said I didn't understand what you'd been saying. I just didn't like the way you'd said that. I think that a simple

Hey, freezeframe, I noticed that the "native language" entry in your profile had changed. How is this possible?


would be more polite. I think it's better to say things explicitly, when it comes to personal matters. This way we have a better chance of avoiding conficts.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
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When you create a forum profile here, there's a required choice of Native Language from a drop-down menu. You can choose only one and you cannot qualify it.

There is a problem with a single choice list- I am afraid the software is inflexible and doesn't offer the possibility to give more than one option. We used to have a box that people could write in, but the results were a mess, but at least this way, we get one language chosen that is spelt consistently, and no one claims to be a native speaker of asdf or a web address.
 

Tdol

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I have to refer you to a lady quoted there. - I promise you striking similarities!

With your question of how someone's native language can change, it's nothing to do with it- it's a question of only being able to choose a single option from a list, while many people are bilingual or more. Having to choose one may not be so straightforward.

Please try to keep things on an even keel. Fighting impoverishes forums.
 

birdeen's call

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There is a problem with a single choice list- I am afraid the software is inflexible and doesn't offer the possibility to give more than one option. We used to have a box that people could write in, but the results were a mess, but at least this way, we get one language chosen that is spelt consistently, and no one claims to be a native speaker of asdf or a web address.
I don't know if this is possible, but maybe new options could be added on request? I noticed that once a Bosnian member asked for their language to be added to the list. Maybe options like English/Russian could be added too?
 

Hucky

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English Teacher
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German
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Please note that I never said I didn't understand what you'd been saying. I just didn't like the way you'd said that. I think that a simple

Hey, freezeframe, I noticed that the "native language" entry in your profile had changed. How is this possible?


would be more polite. I think it's better to say things explicitly, when it comes to personal matters. This way we have a better chance of avoiding conficts.

I can cut a long story short because everything is published and can be reread. I still cannot see what was so impolite about what I wrote, it was even meant to be funny and humorous: Many a true word is spoken is jest. And what about the two first replies in the current thread then? Besides, there are people who are quick in dealing blows to others, but are oversensitive themselves when it comes to the taking. As to the changed profile: The trigger for changing it is obvious. I asked a simple factual question because there happen to be interferences between different languages. It could have easily been that from a point of view of a non-English native speaker the present perfect could have been understood as a preterite. But the responses were nothing but mere mock, not just in the overtone, but bluntly. Everybody can read it.

Thanks for your commitment.

Wszystkiego najlepszego!
 

Hucky

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German
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Switzerland
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With your question of how someone's native language can change, it's nothing to do with it- it's a question of only being able to choose a single option from a list, while many people are bilingual or more. Having to choose one may not be so straightforward.

Please try to keep things on an even keel. Fighting impoverishes forums.

My sentiments exactly! Be assured that there is no risk of any fighting going out from my part.

Just for your attention: I was not going to write any more contributions in the now closed thread anyway. I see, however, that you had to act responsibly when a thread becomes a threat in the very sense of the word.

By the way, you tried to send me a personal message, but I failed to open it. Could you have another try?
 

birdeen's call

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I agree with you that the thread had become unpleasant before your post on freezeframe's profile. It sometimes happens. I think it's important to cut these things off before they have to be cut off by moderators.

Wszystkiego dobrego również Tobie.
 

Hucky

Member
Joined
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Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
German
Home Country
Switzerland
Current Location
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I don't know if this is possible, but maybe new options could be added on request? I noticed that once a Bosnian member asked for their language to be added to the list. Maybe options like English/Russian could be added too?

Just en passant, talking of fighting, it is always a potential source of conflict to call a spade a spade. What if from an academic point of view a claim is absolutely wrong as e.g. the asserted existence of a certain language (I do not want to give it a name), and that very person feels attacked without any reason? Who is to blame?
 

Hucky

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Joined
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Native Language
German
Home Country
Switzerland
Current Location
Switzerland
I agree with you that the thread had become unpleasant before your post on freezeframe's profile. It sometimes happens. I think it's important to cut these things off before they have to be cut off by moderators.

Wszystkiego dobrego również Tobie.

I do relieve you that I will do my best!

Dziekuje bardzo i dobranoc!

(I´m sorry, but I have no diacritical marks on my keyboard to put it properly.)
 

birdeen's call

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Who is to blame?
I don't wish to consider blame anything but a feeling or some other fleeting illusion, so I don't find it worth discussing too much. Let's end this discussion in peace.

Have a good night.
 
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