what does it mean?

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Tedwonny

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Jan 10, 2012
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what does this sentence mean, please?

While English might be our first langauge, we're at hime in many more.

I don't get the last bit. Thanks
 
"Home," not "hime."
 
What does this sentence mean, please?

While English might be our first language, we're at home in many more.

I don't get the last bit. Thanks.

You're not alone there. I don't get it either.

As a complete guess, it's possible that the preceding information was about a family who speak several languages between them and are equally comfortable in any of those languages. They would be able to say that English was their first language but they feel "at home" with many other languages. Even if that were the intended meaning, I wouldn't use "we're at home in ..."
 
While English might be our first language, we’re at home in many more.

Let's put the sentence into context and see what we get! I did a quick Google search and found the sentence in an advertisement for Penguin Books. Penguin Books' 'first language', the language appearing most frequently in their publications, is English. Recognizing that publishing their books in many other languages would be beneficial to their consumers, as well as profitable for their business, Penguin Books now publishes books in several different languages. So, while English might be Penguin's first language, they feel at home (comfortable) publishing their books in many more languages!

The following paragraph will be found on the Penguin Books' website.

While English might be our first language, we’re at home in many more.
Take Angola, a country of rich linguistic diversity where children were growing up without accessto learning materials in the languages they spoke
at home. That’s something that most of us take for granted. So we’ve started publishing schoolbooks in seven national languages, and they’re
now available to more than one million children.
Penguin, the most famous global publishing brand, seeks out the best local authors and helpsthem find a national and international audience.
It’s a powerful form of cultural exchange. Andthe Penguin Classics, that treasury of the bestbooks ever written, can now be relished in
Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin and Arabic.
Understanding is the basis and the object of any good conversation, wouldn’t you agree?
 
It works in the context.
 
Ah, yes - context.
 
The generator of meaning ;-)
 
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