My situation is that i'm mexican american(1st generation). I have an accent, yet my spanish is so much worse than my english. My english is limited too since i'm not a very social person and never have been. The spanish i have is limited to speaking to my family but i'm shy even with them. I don't speak much in any language but i can understand it for the most part. And i can speak if they give me a chance( with mistakes and lots of pauses)
2006-06-21 06:01:12 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
You have a Spanish accent when speaking in English or an English accent when speaking in Spanish?
In either case, however, you are not fully bilingual. Bilingual would mean that you can speak two languages perfectly (no accent, almost no grammatical errors). It usually only happens if you learn 2 languages before the age of 10-15 (slightly different age for different people).
Fluency (which is *not* the same) is speaking with few pauses in the wrong places or fumbling for a word.
2006-06-21 11:05:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
People, there's no need to be rude when answering a question.
I ask myself a similar question frequently, because I speak Spanish pretty well but make grammatical errors all the time and sometimes stumble for a word. But fluency doesn't necessarily mean mastery of a language---I have lots of Asian coworkers whom I consider fluent in English, though they don't speak perfectly. A good rule of thumb I've heard is that you should not call yourself fluent in a language unless you're willing to be interviewed in that language. I am, so I do, although I prefer to qualify it by saying "pretty fluent".
2006-06-21 13:59:24 · answer #2 · answered by kslnet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard recently that there was a study about bilingual people, and it was pretty much proven that even people who are fluent in 2 languages, and have been since young age still have a language that is their mother tongue. It was said that we even don't use the same part of our brain: we use one part for speaking our mother tongue, and other for all the other languages we speak, no matter if we are fluent in one and a beginner in other!
So you shouldn't consider yourself bilingual since there are no bilingual people :)
2006-06-21 14:35:35 · answer #3 · answered by Jasna 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't sound like you speak much of any language at all... :-( I think you need to be true to your roots... practice both languages. I think you are on your way to bilingualism but you are not quite there yet. I'm very jealous of you. I love languages and would love to have the opportunity to be fully immersed in a foreign language.
2006-06-21 13:05:30 · answer #4 · answered by lizwatson109 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello,
Bilingual means that you speak two languages when you imrpove on both of your language then you can say you arebilingual. But think about it some people nowadays don't know everything about a language, since things are always changing you just have to keep up with it.
2006-06-21 18:16:23 · answer #5 · answered by kida_w 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Bilingual means you speak 2 languages fluently.
2006-06-21 13:04:55 · answer #6 · answered by KathyS 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If just anybody off the street asked I would tell them your "pretty much" fluent in both. If you were to apply for a job though I wouldn't because that could be misleading. You should work on both languages though because being bi-lingual can be a great thing and can result in a higher paying job!
Hope this helps!
2006-06-21 13:06:42 · answer #7 · answered by Diamonds_4Ever 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you should consider yourself fully bilingual. You just need to be more social, and practice more both languages.
2006-06-21 13:06:13 · answer #8 · answered by Latin Princess 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you have the ability to speak and understand both languages then you are a bilingual
2006-06-21 13:05:00 · answer #9 · answered by That Chick acisseJ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes
2006-06-21 13:05:25 · answer #10 · answered by hotdogmap 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋