First language vs mother tongue

First language vs mother tongue

I'd like to ask everybody's opinion about 'mother tongue' and 'first

language'.

According

to

my

copy

of

Oxford

Advanced

Learners,

mother

tongue

and first language both refer to the language you acquire as a child and

are most fluent in. When we use these words in everyday speech, do they

include any connotations of race, culture and background? For example,

if

a

person

is

Japanese

does

it

necessarily

mean

that

their

mother

tongue

is

Japanese?

What

about

second

and

third

(etc)

generation

immigrants

who

have lost the language of their parents?

Another question is, who do you

call a 'native speaker'? Again,

OAL says

that a native speaker is one who speaks a language as a first language.

I've always considered English as my first language simply because it's

the language I'm most fluent in. But in my country English functions as

a second language, and

as a result

I've never considered

myself a native

speaker of English.

What do mother tongue, first language, and native speaker mean to you?

Does culture and society matter? Any random thoughts welcome :)

Haha,

I've

wondered

about

this

as

well!

Though

language

technically refers to the first language you acquired as a child, I

consider it to be the language you are most fluent in. My mother tongue

would be Armenian (the very first language I ever spoke/knew), but I'd

definitely consider English my first language because of

my greater

fluency in it.

I'd

consider

mother

tongue

and

native

speaker

to

be

synonymous,

and

first

language to be the language you know best and are most fluent in.

Mother

tongue

is

more

of

a

racial/cultural

thing.

I've

had

friends

whose

grandparents

were

Mexican.

While

the

friends

spoke

English,

their

parents

wanted them to learn Spanish, their

The definition of native speaker is pretty flexible, but I suppose I'd

classify

it

as

someone

who

not

only

grew

up

learning/speaking

the

language,

but grew up in a community of others who spoke the language. :)

I

don't

care

much

for

the

term

tongue

and

this

seems

to

be

general

because it is increasingly replaced (certainly in the UK) by

language

The

reason

for

this

is

that

it

makes

assumptions

-

effectively,

that all children learn language from their mothers, and this is not

necessarily the case. It can also be used figuratively as in

country

but

then

it

can

get

jingoistic

elements.

I

don't

think

I've

seen

is actually the first language for children brought up bilingual from

infancy is a subject of discussion.

speaker

means

someone

whose

first

language

is

that

of

a

culture

where that language is the main language. Sorry if that sounds a bit

convoluted.

Sometimes

it

can

be

qualified,

if

the

language

originated

in

another country and has developed variations; thus I would say that my

mother was a native speaker of Wenglish as a form of English, as she was

from South Wales, but I am a native speaker of English, as I grew up in

London.

Recently I had a discussion about Vladimir Nabokov at my blog. He was

fluent in English and French from early childhood (he had English and

French

nannies

and

teachers,

plenty

of

books,

the

parents

were

fluent

in

foreign languages too). But could it be said that Nabokov knew English

as

good

as

his

mother

tongue(Russian)?

I

think

in

his

childhood

he

didn't,

because

he

lived

in

a

Russian-speaking

country

(albeit

in

a

milieu

where

people commonly spoke French to each other). To know a language fairly

well

one

must

be

exposed

to

a

multitude

of

native

speakers.

Then,

of

course,

Nabokov emigrated and

went

to study

in

England, and he

got the neccesary

language environment.

Portuguese is my mother tongue. It's my parents language and the first

I've spoken. But french is my first language, my

started speaking french when I entered preschool and despite nearly ten

years

of

portuguese

school

(wednesday

+

saturdays)

a

few

years of

sunday

school

(+

mass

in

portuguese)

my

portuguese

is

wrecked.

I

think

and

dream

in

french

and

don't

consider

myself

100%

fluent

in

my

mother

tongue

anymore

(ie I'm always fishing for words).

I'm a native speaker of french and I'm technically a native speaker of

portuguese

(from

Portugal)

but

the

doctor

I

saw

last

summer

at

the

Coimbra

hospital said I sounded a bit like a Brazilian (

abrasileirada

Portuguese

is

not

the

mother

tongue

of

my

nephew

and

nieces.

Their

mothers

are frenchy-french and my brothers don't teach them the language.

I associate

dominant language of your country or cultural group, the language that

you learn not only from your family but from the surrounding community

of

people

who

all

speak

it.

language

is

similar,

but

more

personal;

except

(apparently)

in

the

example

of

Irish

(see

above

comments),

I

think

of

comfortable

speaking

in

and

has

spoken

since

childhood.

language

I take literally; it's the first language a person learned.

My girlfriend is an interesting example of these terms. Both of us have

lived

in

the

United

States

our

entire

lives

and

are

of

white,

Anglo

stock,

so

our

mother

tongue

is,

without

a

doubt,

English.

However,

my

girlfriend

lived with an Indian foster family for most of the first four years of

her

life,

so

her

first

language

is

Hindi.

Technically,

she

learned

English

as a second language starting at

about

age four (when

she started living

with her birth mother again), but I would still call English her native

language

because

she

lost

her

Hindi

very

quickly

and

cannot

speak

it

now.

In

fact,

I

guess

if

she

started

learning

Hindi

again,

it

would

be

considered a second language for her. Weird, huh?

I

tend

to

say

my

Tongue

is

Spanish.

But

then,

I

use

and

interchangeably, and say my

of

the

fact

that

I

did

pick

up

English

faster,

and

speak

it

much

better).

My family is Mexican, and so I grew up with Spanish at home and English

outside (growing up, my family wasn't yet bilingual). Yet, to this day,

the

idea

that

English

is

either

my

or

has

never

crossed

my

mind.

Well, until now that is.... I'm confused now. I feel conflicted to say

English is my

My sister, who looks more

than me,

and who people

always speak

Spanish

too,

doesn't

speak

a

shred

of

Spanish.

While

she

also

grew

up

with

our family only speaking Spanish, she never picked it up, and now she

refuses to speak it,

refuses

. She understands it somewhat, and knows a

few

words

here

and

there,

but

other

than

that,

nothing.

Therefore,

it

can

be said her

because she's Mexican, her

language.

Even

though

Tongue

tends

to

be

associated

with

people's

culture/ethnic

background,

I

don't

think

it

should

always

be

this

way...

First language: your primary language you acquired growing up. May be

first sequentially, but not necessarily.